Film

Foxes

Name: Foxes
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: 1980
Cast: Jodie Foster, Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan, Scott Baio, Sally Kellerman

Coming-of-age

Four teenage girls navigate the San Fernando Valley in 1980, chasing freedom and oblivion through parties, sex, and drugs. Jodie Foster anchors Adrian Lyne's debut with a raw, unsentimental eye—this isn't an after-school special. It's a fever dream of adolescence: chaotic, seductive, and genuinely scary in its recklessness. For anyone who's wondered what it actually felt like to be young and invincible.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you are drawn to bruised, hazy portraits of teenage girls drifting through suburban boredom, where the mood and the music carry more weight than the plot.

Skip it if you need a clear dramatic spine or want characters who are easy to root for, since the film stays loose and often lets its wayward young women drift without much direction.

What it asks of you: It runs about an hour and forty-six minutes and moves at a lazy, wandering pace, asking you to sit with restless moods and long stretches of aimless time rather than steady escalation.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Diner1982

Four male friends in 1950s Baltimore navigate adulthood through conversation and ritual. Like Foxes, it captures a specific time and place through intimate ensemble work, finding pathos in ordinary moments and the terror of change.

But Dialogue-heavy and plotless—nothing much happens. If you want narrative propulsion over atmosphere, this will feel like eavesdropping on strangers.

The Breakfast Club1985

Five teenagers from different tribes find common ground in Saturday detention. Possesses Foxes' gift for making high school feel genuinely high-stakes, with the same emotional authenticity and refusal to condescend to young people.

But It's a product of its time—some of the social dynamics feel dated, and it's considerably more optimistic about redemption than Foxes manages.

American Graffiti1973

Ensemble coming-of-age set against a specific era's music and car culture. Like Foxes, it uses pop soundtrack as character development and captures the bittersweet knowledge that this night, this moment, changes everything.

But It's set in the early 1960s and considerably gentler—if you want the darkness that Foxes carries, you won't find it here.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Foxes

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Smithereens1982

Both films use a specific era's music scene and nightlife as backdrop for portrait of female drift and self-harm, but Smithereens refuses any narrative shape or dramatic arc—it's pure observation.

Susan Seidelman's debut follows a young woman drifting through New York's punk underground. Like Foxes, it's a portrait of aimless youth shaped by music and sex, but shot in black-and-white on Super 8, giving it a documentary rawness Foxes' gloss avoids. A completely different formal experiment in the same emotional territory.

But Shot on a shoestring and it shows—not everyone will accept low production values as artistic choice rather than limitation.

Over the Edge1979

Matt Dillon and bored teenagers in a planned community with nowhere to go but trouble. Captures the same anarchic teenage energy and indictment of adult neglect, with an equally unflinching view of youth self-destruction.

But Lower budget and less polished than Foxes—the filmmaking is scrappier, which some will find more authentic and others just rough.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High1982

Ensemble high school comedy-drama with sex, drugs, and genuine stakes. Shares Foxes' ability to make teenage life feel both comedic and deeply consequential, anchored by strong performances from an ensemble of unknowns.

But It's funnier and more forgiving than Foxes—if you're after unrelenting darkness, this pivots toward humor and redemption.

Permanent Record

Keanu Reeves and a group of gifted teenagers in a California high school. Explores similar themes of adolescent alienation and self-destruction with the same willingness to let the story go to dark places.

But Deals explicitly with suicide and depression—it's heavier than most coming-of-age films, and some will find it punishing rather than illuminating.

Desert Bloom1986

Jon Voight and Annabeth Gish in 1950s Nevada. A family drama that captures teenage female experience with the same specificity and refusal to soften difficult truths about what girls endure.

But Slower and more introspective than Foxes—it's less about action and more about emotional damage, which some will find less gripping.

My Own Private Idaho1991

River Phoenix as a street hustler in Portland. Experimental and uncompromising look at youth adrift, using the road movie form to explore alienation and connection with the same unsentimental eye as Foxes.

But Deliberately difficult filmmaking—Gus Van Sant's style is challenging, and the subject matter is bleak. This is not entertainment in the conventional sense.

Smooth Talk1985

Laura Dern as a fifteen-year-old in Southern California, caught between suburban safety and dangerous seduction. Captures the specific terror and allure of being young and female in America with devastating precision.

But Grounded in ambiguity and dread rather than catharsis—the ending offers no comfort, which many will find frustrating or simply too dark.

Christiane F.1981

Both are 1980s films with David Bowie on the soundtrack about girls in free fall, but Foxes retains dramatic structure and ambivalence, while Christiane F. commits fully to horror.

German film about a teenage girl in Berlin's heroin underworld, based on a true story. Shares Foxes' unflinching look at teen self-destruction, but pushes further into addiction and sex work. The Bowie soundtrack connects it formally, but tonally it's darker and more documenting than dramatic.

But Explicitly depicts teenage drug use and prostitution. It's genuinely uncomfortable, and some will feel exploited rather than moved by the realism.