16 Candles Movie Review
When I was in Grade 9, in my religion class, we got to watch three John Hughes films for the sex-ed program. We watched "Pretty in Pink", "The Breakfast Club" and "Some Kind of Wonderful". Of coarse, since they were made in the 80's I loved them. Well, I didn't love them only because they were made in the 80's but they've all got great plots and they teach good lessons for teenagers to learn. Most of the kids in my class made fun of these movies because of the 80's style, music and other things. I thought it was a shame that they did this but ah well, it's their loss I guess.
Oneday I was talking to some about these John Hughes movies and he told me to rent 16 Candles because it's the best of all the John Hughes films aimed at teens. So, I went out and rented it and loved it of coarse. This summer when I was at the video store and couldn't decide what to rent, I thought about how funny 16 Candles was, so I rented it again, and again and I kept on renting it all summer! I've seen it at least 12 this summer.
Unlike the other John Hughes films aimed at teens that I've seen, 16 Candles is a comedy. It's about a girl named Sam (Molly Ringwald), who's 16th birthday goes completely unnoticed by her family because her older sister's wedding is the next day. Sam has a big crush on a senior student named Jake Ryan, who has the prom queen as a girlfriend. Sam thinks that she'll never get Jake Ryan because she's nothing in comparison to the prom queen. Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) is the nerd in the movie (and most other John Hughes movies). He has a huge crush on Sam and follows her around like a puppy dog. Sam obviously hates him and just wants him to leave her alone. I love the scene at the dance where Sam is gawking at Jake Ryan when out of knowhere, Farmer Ted shows up in front of Sam and tries to dance with her.
What makes this movie so hilarious is Long Duck Dong (Gedde Wantanbe, my new favourite actor). Since Sam's older sister is getting married, both sets of grandparents are staying at their house. One set of grandparents bring their exchange student from China, Long Duck Dong (what a name!) to their house. The grandparents invite Long Duck Dong to Sam's school dance, where he meets the girl of his dreams in 5 minutes of being there! "I've never been so happy in my entire life! Now I have somewhere to put my hand!". I sometimes find myself reciting Long Duck Dong lines out of no where, like "What's happening hot stuff?" or "Auto-mo-bile?! Lake, big lake!!!"
1984 (the year this movie was made) looks like it was a good year for fashion. At the beginning of the movie they have all the kids coming off the school bus and they show their shirts, shoes, jeans and the different styles that the kids at the school wear. I wish my school was that stylish!
One thing I noticed about his movie is that some copies of the movie have the song "Happy Birthday" by Altered Images at the scene where Sam is in class filling out the survey, but in other copies of the movie they have some other song (I don't what it's called or who's it done by) in that same place instead of Altered Images! Also, in some copies of the movie they got rid of my favourite David Bowie song "Young Americans" at the part where the family's getting into the car to go to the wedding. What's up with that???
Oh well, it still doesn't change the brilliance of this movie! I need to buy this movie because with the amount of money I've spent renting it, I could have bought it! I'd also like to have the soundtrack to the movie. It's got some good early 80's tunes on it!
Something else I should recomment is this compilation put out by Endearing Records called "Pretty in Pop". It's got 5 covers of songs from John Hughes movies by band on Endearing Records like B'ehl, the Bonaduces, Ciao Bella and others. That's really great too!
If 16 candles is good enough for me to see 12 times, it's good enough for you to see at least once!
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