Sixteen Candles

What a classic! I just watched this movie again. Its one thing to watch a movie that takes place in the 80’s (The Wedding Singer for example) and another to watch a movie filmed in the 80’s. Let’s be honest…Molly Ringwald is amazing! Really Sixteen Candles and the Breakfast Club were when she was in her prime. (It's too bad her career ends up taking her towards made for TV movies like, Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front). Her character, Samantha Baker is totally stuck in teen angst and there is something so refreshing about that. I love when she says things like “I could spit twice and die!” Everything is life or death. Its high school; it’s serious.

I forgot that John Cusack is one of the nerds in this movie. He is so young! I believe that this was only his second film. And I was also surprised that Joan Cusack is the nerdy girl with neck brace. She is really funny in this. I loved the scene of her at the party trying to dance. I also forgot that in the 80’s people (or at least Hollywood) used insults like “butt lick”. Apparently, the 80’s were also a time when Hollywood would cast 30+ year olds to play high school kids. So it’s a little disturbing to see these men doing pull-ups in the gym and talking about high school girls when the men look like they just trimmed their ear and nose hair. Seriously, I don't even know college kids that look that old.

My favorite quote from the movie is when Samantha is talking to her really dumb sister the day before her sister gets married. Her sister says this to Samantha, “I really love Rudy. He is totally enamored of me. I mean, I've had other men love me before, but not for six months in a row.” What a great line… then of course I love the fact that her sister chooses to take 4 muscle relaxers the day of her wedding to get rid of her cramps. She can’t even walk down the aisle without asking a guest to move over in the pew so she can rest. The best is when she is leaving the church and is trying to catch the rice with her mouth as people throw it at her. This made me laugh a lot. Similar to the brief scene when the paper boy falls off his bike in While You Were Sleeping.

OK, my last comment is about the love story between Samantha and Jake Ryan (who is Al Carver in Wild Hearts Can’t be Broken). First of all, he knows nothing about her. When he talks to his jock friend about her, this is their conversation:

Jake: I do independent study with her. I catch her lookin' at me a lot. It's kinda cool, the way she's always lookin' at me.
Jock friend: Maybe she's retarded
Jake: I'm being serious, ok. She looks at me like she's in love with me.

So, apparently staring like a weirdo doesn’t send the stalker signal, this is in fact how you get a man. Because at the end, they are sitting on a table with her birthday cake between them and Jake tells Samantha to make a wish and she says “but it’s already come true.” Then they kiss. Oh…Sixteen Candles….

(Post Script – Maybe I should consider becoming a movie critic. Please refer to my post about
Rocky IV)