The '90s Had Its Own Version of the Brat Pack (Even Though Most People Forgot) (2024)

Andrew McCarthy's recently released Hulu documentary, Brats, is an interesting look at how labels can affect you, especially when you're younger and more impressionable. The Brat Pack, as they were called, were a group of young actors and actresses in the '80s who starred frequently together in some of the signature coming-of-age films of the decade. It appears like a fun elite group that any young person would want to be a part of, but McCarthy's documentary, almost like a 90-minute therapy session, focuses on how the moniker shaped their lives and careers, leaning mostly in a negative way because, to some of them, it meant they could no longer be taken seriously as actors.

It's brought up frequently in the documentary that nothing has happened like the Brat Pack phenomenon since, but that's not entirely true. The '90s had its share of teen films, TV shows, and idols that similarly dominated their respective decade. They just weren't given a clever name to identify them. During that time and in the years after, they also seemed to be a bit more thankful for their level of fame when they were young, something some of the members of the '80s Brat Pack have consistently rejected.

The Era of '80s Teen Movies and the Brat Pack

For those who don't know, the '80s was a defining moment for youth culture entertainment, particularly in film. There weren't many movies aimed at the younger audience until the '80s, and that makes the decade unique and a trailblazer in its own right. Due to films mostly conceived by John Hughes, such as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and many more, the stars of these respective films grew in immense popularity with the target audience.

It grew so much that the group was eventually coined with a special name. Thanks to an article written by David Blum for New York Magazine in 1985, the term The Brat Pack was born. Blum wrote the article, originally pitched as a piece focusing on Breakfast Club star Emilio Estevez, as he watched the group of young actors being flooded by young fans and groupies at the Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles.

The group seemed to be led by its more party-centric and outgoing "members," such as Rob Lowe and Judd Nelson, but it soon included some of the actors who starred in multiple films together or ran in the same circles. This culminated with the release of Joel Schumacher's St. Elmos Fire, which starred several members of the Pack, including Estevez, McCarthy, Nelson, Lowe, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore. Beyond that film, other actors associated with the group, such as Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, and other adjacent members, could very well make the '80s look like a celebrity high school.

The '90s Saw the Beginning of Its Own Brat Pack

As pointed out in the Brats documentary, most of the Brat Pack rejected the name because they believed it diminished their value as actors, and some thought it negatively affected their careers. McCarthy, in particular, frequently states nothing like it has happened since, but that can be challenged. During the mid-'90s, another youth culture boom began in entertainment, unofficially started by the success of 1995's Clueless.

That film didn't trigger its own unofficial Brat Pack, but it did make it clear that youth-driven cinema in the '90s could be very lucrative (the film grossed $88 million globally on a $12 million budget). Waiting in the shadows of the success of Clueless was a perfect storm of young talent, the return of the teen slasher film, and a network geared at young adults that would pave the way to create its own elite group of teen idols.

Much of this happened independently of each other before some of these worlds converged by the mid to late '90s. A year before Clueless was released, a teen and family drama called Party of Five premiered, and it introduced the world to Neve Campbell and, eventually, gave a young Jennifer Love Hewitt even more exposure when she was added to the series. Despite early ratings that nearly got it canceled, the show eventually caught on with young adults and families and became a signature hit for Fox, especially when paired with their more established hit, Beverly Hills 90210.

Neve Campbell in the Scream Franchise

During her early run on Party of Five, Campbell starred in two teen horror films in 1996 that would become staples for its target audience: The Craft and Scream. The Craft was a modest hit, but appearing in Scream would not only boost Campbell's profile considerably but also fully ignite a '90s teen explosion spearheaded by writer Kevin Williamson.

Much like John Hughes before him, Williamson wanted to write a movie that respected the teen audience. Unlike John Hughes, he also wanted to do his part to revive the horror genre, films that were seeing more misses than hits in the '90s. Scream was considered DOA by many in the industry when it only debuted to $6.4 million, but the movie had incredible legs thanks to stellar word of mouth, eventually grossing $103 million at the domestic box office on a $15 million budget. The fuse was then lit for the horror genre, any form of youth content, and the fresh faces that would star in it.

Also simmering during the success of Scream is the emergence of The WB Television Network (soon to be known as The WB by all the cool kids). The network began in 1995 and was struggling to find substantial hits as it was mostly identified by silly comedies that made it clear it couldn't compete with the Big Four networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, & Fox).

The 1996-97 season gave them their first modest hit in 7th Heaven, a family drama from producer Aaron Spelling that starred young talent the industry would come to know, such as Jessica Biel and Barry Watson. However, it was a mid-season replacement in 1997 that would give The WB the recognition it was seeking and also changed its trajectory to target the teenage and young adult audience specifically, something the other networks weren't doing.

The Success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered in March 1997 and became an instant hit. It also made its star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, a girl to watch. Gellar was known to soap fans following an Emmy-winning run on All My Children, but she was essentially discovered by many fans after Buffy premiered. She also filmed a little horror movie during the time that Buffy was premiering on The WB.

Following the success of Scream, the industry had I Know What You Did Last Summer, also written by Williamson, and starring more young stars on the verge of immense popularity. Campbell's Party of Five co-star, Jennifer Love Hewitt, lands the lead in the film, but she is joined by a crop of other young stars that includes Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr.

The film was released nearly a year after Scream, during the third season of Party of Five for Hewitt, and shortly after the second season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Gellar. Due to all these key factors, unlike Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer was a hit out of the gate, spending three weeks at number one and ultimately grossing $125.3 million worldwide on a $17 million budget.

Scream 2 Was Another Hit in the '90s

By the end of 1997, Scream 2 was released, and it was just as successful as the first film, capping off a solid year of youth entertainment that created a new group of young stars. Scream 2 featured the surviving members of the first film and other fresh faces, including Gellar, who gets her own Drew Barrymore moment in one of the film's signature scenes. You might also notice a young Joshua Jackson out of Mighty Ducks gear as one of the students featured in the film class scene with Gellar and Jamie Kennedy's Randy Meeks. The audience will also see more of Jackson on The WB very soon.

Again, spearheaded by Williamson, you see the emergence of Dawson's Creek in 1998 on The WB. The series would introduce the late '90s to more young talent, including Jackson, James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, and Michelle Williams. Another mid-season replacement for the network, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek became an instant hit, becoming a flagship show for the network and turning its cast into international stars. The series was geared at teens and didn't talk down to them with Williamson, much like Hughes before him, respecting the voices and minds of the target audience. This is what many of these shows and movies from the '80s and '90s have in common. They treated their demographic as viable human beings, giving the audience idols to look up to and worship for various reasons.

What you have throughout 1998 and through 1999 is an explosion of more movies and TV shows, with some of these stars appearing in some of them together. 1998's Can't Hardly Wait is almost like a game of spot the teen star, even with some of the film's supporting roles. Hewitt also starred in this one, and one of her co-stars was Seth Green, a child actor who also benefited from the teen boom of the '90s because, by the time he was in Can't Hardly Wait, he was a series regular on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Gellar. He was also in My Stepmother is an Alien with Alyson Hannigan, who also starred on Buffy as Willow, who would eventually star in her own raunchy teen comedy in 1999, American Pie. As you can see, it's all connected.

The Late '90s Teen Stars Found More Success

The late '90s became a sort of connecting the dots of teen stars and how they were associated with each other. Many starred in horror films (Katie Holmes had Disturbing Behavior, Michelle Williams had Halloween: H20, and Joshua Jackson had Urban Legend). They also had even more defining teen films that connected them by appearing in them together or their adjacent success. By January 1999, Van Der Beek found success with Varsity Blues, which also starred a fresh-faced Paul Walker. Just a few weeks later, Freddie Prinze Jr. scored a big hit with She's All That, also co-starring a fresh-faced Paul Walker.

Again, in mere weeks, Cruel Intentions was released, reuniting Gellar and Phillippe and featuring Jackson in a small role. That film became another teen hit, even fully introducing most of us to Selma Blair (who also starred in her own series on The WB, Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane). By the end of that month, 10 Things I Hate About You was released, making stars out of its teen cast and becoming a hit thanks to the youth market. This all culminated with the release of American Pie that summer, which proved to be the biggest hit of them all when it grossed $235.5 million globally on an $11 million budget.

It was a time when some of these stars were even connected by their lesser-known projects that didn't fully connect with the demographic. Prinze Jr. and Blair starred alongside 10 Thing I Hate About You's Julia Stiles in Down to You in 2000 (you're forgiven if you don't remember it), while the actor also starred in Summer Catch with 7th Heaven's Jessica Biel. He even appeared in Boys and Girls with Hannigan and Jason Biggs, who had their teen hit with American Pie. Even shows on The WB that weren't as huge as some of their biggest hits made mini-stars that were connected. Leslie Bibb starred on the network's comedy series Popular and also jumped into film with Joshua Jackson and Paul Walker in The Skulls.

The '90s Brat Pack Handled Their Success Well

At the height of their popularity, the '90s teen stars, much like the Brat Pack, were featured on magazine covers and talk shows. They became the toast of the industry because, even if the older demographic wasn't all about their output, they supported a lucrative industry, and these actors and actresses were undoubtedly bringing in money. They weren't given a label like the Brat Pack to identify them, but their success was similar, and one of the key differences was how most of them handled it.

The teen stars of the '90s, for the most part, didn't seem to view their status negatively, and it didn't prevent many of them from landing more prestige movies. Take Katie Holmes, for instance. Even though she starred in what some would call forgettable teen fare such as Disturbing Behavior and Teaching Mrs. Tingle, she also landed roles in more respected projects such as Go (directed by Doug Liman), Wonder Boys (directed by Curtis Hanson) and The Gift (directed by Sam Raimi). The more prestigious roles were there for these actors, which proved they had to seek them out to land them.

Compared to the Brat Pack today, the teen idols of the '90s also look back more positively on their teen stardom and output. You'll find it hard for Judd Nelson or Molly Ringwald to speak about their '80s success much at all, but the '90s stars seem to understand that they wouldn't be where they are now without it. In 2023, Michelle Williams, now a multiple Oscar nominee, spoke to Vulture about her time on Dawson's Creek by saying, "Maybe there's a connection between firstness and lastness, so I'm constantly reconnecting with my time on Dawson's Creek because every project that I end somehow recalls that to me." The actress went on to talk about how it was great training for her as an actress and some of those skills she still uses today.

"But it was an incredible kind of training because you're also learning these really fundamental things, like how to have a conversation with somebody where you're looking them in the eye but some part of you is also scanning downward to hit your mark. It's that kind of technical stuff that seems sort of silly and small that still comes in handy for me."

Sometimes, reminiscing on these projects from the stars of the '90s isn't about profound thoughts on training but just about being proud of the fact that they made films that left their mark. During the 25th anniversary of Cruel Intentions this year, Phillippe was happy that he was a part of a film that is still being discussed 25 years later, something some members of the '80s Brat Pack seem reluctant to do.

"When I started out as a young actor, my hopes and dreams, in a lot of ways, were tied to having something that lasts, having something that makes that much of an impression. And to be more specific, being in a seminal teen movie was something, in the early part of my career, that mattered to me, that John Hughes movies when I was growing up. And Cruel Intentions still holds up. If you watch it today, it's sharp, funny. It doesn't feel dated."

Perhaps the '80s Brat Pack stands out more because it was the first of its kind. Young stars in young coming-of-age films helped shape their generation. It's hard to say if the movies of this period or the young adult films and TV shows of the '90s had more impact (that will come down to the individual), but this wave certainly didn't stop in the '80s. It continued well into the '90s, without a cool name, but definitely with young actors and actresses that were more game to embrace their teen stardom. If you're interested in the '80s Brat Pack, Brats is streaming now on Hulu.