Coming of age is one of the few experiences that everyone in the world can relate to. Growing up is tough, and it’s something that we all have to go through. Whether they’re about a young child learning the harsh realities of life or a teenager riddled with hormones and confusing feelings, coming-of-age movies can touch on something universal.

RELATED: 5 Belated Sequels We're Glad Got Made (& 5 We Wish Never Happened)

The old adage is that the more personal and intimate and specific a story is, the more universally relatable it’ll be. That has certainly remained true in the coming-of-age film genre, as the best ones feel super personal and the worst ones stick to familiar clichés. So, here are the five best and five worst coming-of-age movies ever made.

Best: Lady Bird (2017)

Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut (having previously co-directed Nights and Weekends with Joe Swanberg) adheres to the rule that the more specific a story is, the more relatable it will be. Gerwig made a Catholic high school in Sacramento in 2002 feel like every school in the world at any time.

The movie explores every aspect of Lady Bird’s life in intimate detail, but the centerpiece is her relationship with her mother (played beautifully by the perfectly matched Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf), which may be the greatest on-screen mother-daughter relationship in film history.

Worst: Paper Towns (2015)

Nat Wolf and Cara Develigne in Paper Towns

Just because John Green wrote a novel, it doesn’t mean it’ll make a great movie. Paper Towns can attest to that as a Y.A. romance that’s nowhere near as deep or thought-provoking as it wants to be.

It may have done the bare minimum to capture the hearts of teen moviegoers, but most audiences have the self-respect to demand more than that.

Best: Stand By Me (1986)

Adapted from the Stephen King short story “The Body,” Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me focuses on four best friends in the 1950s as they head into the woods to find a dead body that everyone’s been talking about.

RELATED: 10 Movies That Defined '80s Cinema

Ultimately, the story has nothing to do with the corpse in the woods. It’s about the emotional journeys that these four boys go on more than the physical journey.

Worst: Wide Awake (1998)

Joseph Cross and Rosie ODonnell in Wide Awake

Although The Sixth Sense is widely considered to be M. Night Shyamalan’s debut feature, he wrote and directed Wide Awake one year earlier. It tells the story of a 10-year-old boy’s search for God in the wake of his grandfather’s death.

There are no shocking supernatural plot twists here; just cliché-ridden melodrama and in-your-face sentimentality.

Best: The Graduate (1967)

The final shot of The Graduate

It’s easy to look at The Graduate as a movie about an older woman seducing a younger man, but it covers so much more ground than that. Mike Nichols’ movie begins with a relatable conflict: a young man has just graduated from college, after years of doing what was expected of him, and now, he has no idea what he wants to do with his life.

Dustin Hoffman became an icon overnight in the lead role of Benjamin Braddock. The ambiguous ending – and particularly the final shot of Benjamin and Elaine sitting on the bus set to “The Sound of Silence” – perfectly sums up the uncertainty of life itself.

Worst: LOL (2012)

Miley Cyrus and Douglas Booth in LOL

A remake of a French movie with the same text slang for a title, LOL stars Miley Cyrus as a heartbroken high school student who, surprisingly, has attracted the attention of more than one guy at her school.

Demi Moore plays her mother, who “accidentally” reads her journal and realizes she doesn’t really know her daughter in the age of Facebook and iTunes (as you can imagine, its commentary on social media was outdated instantly). LOL is a cocktail of the worst teen movie clichés.

Best: Moonlight (2016)

Based on Tarell Alvin McCraney’s unproduced play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, Moonlight is an uncompromising cinematic masterpiece charting the troubled life of Chiron Harris, played by three different actors across the film’s three distinct acts, as he struggles against bullies, sexual confusion, and a strained relationship with his crack-addicted mother.

Although La La Land was erroneously announced as the winner, Moonlight was (very deservingly) awarded the Best Picture trophy at the 89th Academy Awards.

Worst: Varsity Blues (1999)

James Van Der Beek and Paul Walker in Varsity Blues

This dramedy about a high school football team and their legendary coach manages to stick to every cliché of both sports movies and coming-of-age movies. And those are arguably the two most cliché-ridden genres of all.

Best: Boyhood (2014)

Child Mason lying on the grass looking at the sky in Boyhood

The only coming-of-age movie to be shot while its lead actor actually came of age, Boyhood was filmed across a whopping 12-year period by director Richard Linklater. In addition to Ellar Coltrane’s authentic aging, the naturalistic, semi-improvised dialogue and organic tonal shifts make it feel like you’re actually watching Mason grow up.

RELATED: Richard Linklater's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Linklater didn’t write a complete script before he began shooting, instead writing it as he went along and letting inspiration dictate the story.

Worst: The Blue Lagoon (1980)

Randal Kleiser’s The Blue Lagoon has a pretty disturbing take on the island survival narrative. It’s about two young kids – a boy and a girl – who get stranded on a tropical island for years.

The story supposedly presents puberty outside the confines of civilized society, with the kids left to figure out their hormones on their own. There might have been some potential in this premise, but all Kleiser used it for is an idealized teen romance crossed with awkward softcore smut.

NEXT: The 10 Best Anthology Movies Ever Made