Sixteen Candles

Sixteen Candles

Sixteen Candles Molly Ringwald established herself as the teen queen of the '80s in this fresh comedy. The movie is a day in the life of Samantha, whose 16th birthday is turning out to be anything but sweet. All the traumas of teendom come down on one long day, which sees Samantha surrounded by dithery relatives, mooning over a high school hunk, and pursued by a sawed-off Lothario. Sixteen Candles marked the directing debut of John Hughes, and its goofy energy displayed a promising talent with a great ear for high school lingo ... a promise neglected since Hughes became, after Home Alone, a one-man entertainment industry. There are some pretty crass moments (Why the stereotype of the foreign-exchange student from Asia?), but Ringwald's steady appeal smoothes over the rough spots. As the pubescent, self-styled lady-killer, Anthony Michael Hall turns in a hilarious portrait of a young swinger; he and Ringwald would reteam with Hughes for The Breakfast Club, another key teen picture of the decade. --Robert Horton The Breakfast Club John Hughes's popular 1985 teen drama finds a diverse group of high school students--a jock (Emilio Estevez), a metalhead (Judd Nelson), a weirdo (Ally Sheedy), a princess (Molly Ringwald), and a nerd (Anthony Michael Hall)--sharing a Saturday in detention at their high school for one minor infraction or another. Over the course of a day, they talk through the social barriers that ordinarily keep them apart, and new alliances are born, though not without a lot of pain first. Hughes, who wrote and directed, is heavy on dialogue but he also thoughtfully refreshes the look of the film every few minutes with different settings and original viewpoints on action. The movie deals with such fundamentals as the human tendency toward bias and hurting the weak, and because the characters are caught somewhere between childhood and adulthood, it's easy to get emotionally involved in hope for their redemption. Preteen and teenage kids love this film, incidentally. --Tom Keogh Weird Science Yes, that is Bill Paxton as Ilan Mitchell-Smith's militaristic big brother. And that's Robert Downey Jr. as one of the in-crowd jerks who makes nerds Mitchell-Smith and Hall's lives miserable. Fortunately, this is a John Hughes comedy and our smart nerds create the perfect woman, Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), using a computer and voodoo. Lisa is a willing sex toy, has magical powers, and just wants to help the boys get even and meet nice babes. She even cleans up. The fantasy ebullience of Hughes is given full rein here and that's good and bad (mostly good). It's all aimed at a certain kind of hormone-addled, 16-year-old sensibility; but who doesn't have a little bit of that in them? --Keith Simanton

Genre: Comedy, Romance
Production: MCA Universal Home Video
  2 wins & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Metacritic:
61
Rotten Tomatoes:
86%
PG
Year:
1984
93
24,048 Views
It's the time of your life that may last a lifetime.
When you're just sixteen anything can happen!
Stuck between a nitwit and a heart-throb
Turning sixteen isn't easy, when you've fallen in love... for the first time

The Geek:
[about Samantha] She's cranked for you. I told her you asked about her, right? The girl freaked. She had a fit. She thinks you're the cat's meow!

Jake:
Really? She came up to me in the gym tonight. She looked at me like I was a loner.

The Geek:
Girls will do that, Jake. You know? They know that guys are like in perpetual heat, right? They know we do it, and they enjoy pumping us up. It's pure power politics, I'm telling you.

Jake:
I thought she hated my guts.

The Geek:
Games, Jake. Silly torturous games. You know how many times I've gone without lunch because some witch borrows my lunch money? Any halfway decent girl can rob me - blind! Because I'm too torqued up to say no. It's heinous, I'm telling you.

Jake:
You better not be lying to me. It'd be a major downer to try and get together with this girl and find out that she really does think I'm a slime.

The Geek:
Jake, would I lie to you? Let me put it to you this way: what happens to me if I lie to you?

Jake:
Heh, I'd kick you.

The Geek:
Right! So why would I lie? But I feel compelled to mention to you, Jake, that if all you want of the girl is a piece of her, I mean, I'll either do it myself, or get someone bigger than me to kick you. I mean, not many girls in contemporary American society today would give their underwear to help a geek like me.

Jake:
I can get a piece of her anytime I want. Shoot, I've got Caroline in the bedroom right now, passed out cold. I could violate her ten different ways if I wanted to.

The Geek:
[almost chokes on a pretzel] What are you waiting for?

Jim Baker:
I was just upstairs, and I couldn't sleep. I feel like a real jerk, honey. We forgot your birthday. I bet you're really P.O.'d, huh?

Samantha:
No, it's okay. I'm not really all that upset anymore.

Jim Baker:
This wedding is really turning this entire house inside out. And I just came down to tell you that we did remember.

Samantha:
Thanks, Dad.

Jim Baker:
Happy birthday. [Sighs] Is something else wrong?

Samantha:
No, why?

Jim Baker:
I don't know, I just get the feeling that something's bothering you. Something other than your birthday.

Samantha:
No, I'm fine. Really.

Jim Baker:
I think I know what it is. It has to do with a certain guy? I know, honey. I know. We're all upset that Ginny's marrying a bohunk. What's the matter?

Samantha:
[Sighs] I meant Jake.

Jim Baker:
Jake? Wait a minute. I thought she said his name was Rudy.

Samantha:
Forget it.

Jim Baker:
Forget what? Who's Jake?

Samantha:
He's a boy, Daddy. It's nothing. Okay? Just forget it, please.

Jim Baker:
Come on, Sam. We're not communicating.

Samantha:
It's extremely embarrassing, okay?

Jim Baker:
What's embarrassing?

Samantha:
Sitting in the dark with your dad, telling him about your love life.

Jim Baker:
I'm afraid you lost me again, Sam.

Samantha:
Jake is a senior, and he's beautiful and perfect. I like him a real lot, and he doesn't like me. Okay?

Jim Baker:
Oh.

Samantha:
And he's got this incredible girlfriend. I'm just this ridiculous dork that's following him around like a puppy.

Jim Baker:
Why do you think you're a dork? I don't think you're a dork. I don't think Mom thinks you're a dork.

Samantha:
Mike thinks I'm a dork.

Jim Baker:
Mike is a dork.

Samantha:
But so am I.

Jim Baker:
Well, if it's any consolation, I love you. And if this guy can't see in you all the beautiful and wonderful things that I see, then he's got the problem.

Samantha:
I know. It just hurts.

Jim Baker:
That's why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they'd call 'em something else.

Samantha:
But if I were Ginny, I'd have this guy crawling on his knees.

Jim Baker:
Well, let me tell you something about Ginny. Now, I love her as much as I love you. But she's a different person. Sometimes I worry about her. When you're given things kind of easily, you don't always appreciate them. With you, I'm not worried. When it happens to you, Samantha, it'll be forever.


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