Overrated and overhyped

Awesome Movie

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Smitten teenager Samantha Baker (a delightful performance by the spunky and adorable Molly Ringwald) has a crush on popular hunk Jake (the handsome and charming Michael Schoeffling), who's already spoken for. Worse yet, her family get so caught up with her older sister's impending wedding that they totally forget her 16th birthday. Writer/director John Hughes keeps the enjoyable story zipping along at a snappy pace, maintains a likeable lighthearted tone throughout, presents believable teen characters, astutely nails the joy and anguish of adolescence, and manages a few tender, touching, and thoughtful moments amid all the often raucous and uproarious humor. Moreover, it's acted with aplomb by a tip-top cast: Anthony Michael Hall brings a utterly disarming cocky swagger to his breakthrough role as a brash and persistent geek, Paul Dooley shines with his a lovely portrayal of Samantha's harried, but humane dad, and Gedde Watanabe has a field day as happy-go-lucky foreign exchange student Long Duk Dong, plus there are fine contributions from Haviland Morris as foxy babe Caroline, Blanche Baker as the ditsy Ginny, Justin Henry as sharp-tongued younger brother Mike, Max Showalter as the hearty Fred, and Billie Bird and Edward Andrews as a pair of doddery grandparents. John Cusack, Joan Cusack, and Jami Gertz pop up in small roles. A total hoot that not only delivers the expected laughs, but also proves to be really sweet and occasionally moving as well.

I don't know why, but I've always found Molly Ringwald tough to watch. There is a snarl that is part of her being that doesn't appeal to me. Nevertheless, she does a decent job here as a poor ignored girl whose birthday is forgotten. Then we have a bunch of juvenile jokes, designed to appeal to, you guessed it, juveniles. I think a lot of the people who liked this movie, see this time in their lives in the characters. Once again, like with the breakfast club, we have all these persons with prescribed traits, interconnected. They come and they go, but there is not real connection. As a matter of fact, they would be at opposite poles in real life. We know that things will work out in the end and all will be well with the world. Nothing wrong with that. It's just not all that engaging.

"Samantha Baker" (Molly Ringwald) is excited to turn 16 because she knows her family has something special planned for her. Unfortunately, because her older sister "Ginny" (Blanche Baker) is getting married the next day, everyone has totally forgotten all about Samantha. So as she heads off to school, instead of being happy she has become very depressed. Unfortunately, her day is about to get much, much worse because not only is she being pursued by the biggest geek in school (played by Anthony Michael Hall) but the senior she idolizes named "Jake Ryan" (Michael Schoeffling) doesn't even know she exists. At least that is what she thinks. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly good comedy which suffered unnecessarily from a few crude scenes here and there which, quite frankly, could have easily been left out. But I liked it overall due in large part to the excellent performances by the aforementioned Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. Likewise, having a gorgeous actress like Haviland Morris (as "Caroline Mulford") certainly didn't hurt in any way either. Be that as it may, while I wouldn't recommend it to a general audience, all things considered I rate this movie as slightly above average.

ms like Sixteen Candles personify what the eighties was all about. And if you were a child of the 80s, you will probably identify with this film a lot more than the now younger generation. The story is simple enough, but it works so well. Molly Ringwald is particularly like able in this, and she is almost irreplaceable in her part. There are heaps of familiar faces, including small parts from many of the present day 'movie stars' i.e John Cusack, Joan Cusack and Jami Gertz. It's kind of doggy though, and when you tell people you watched it their response is usually "Oh My God. That is so OLD." But that's what I like about it. If you want to watch a film that reflects the eighties, forget the nostalgia trips of The Wedding Singer and Romy and Michelle. Hire a true eighties product, such as Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, St Elmo's Fire.... The list goes on and on.