Sixteen Candles

Part sweet-hearted teenage romance and part raunchy National Lampoon comedy, which makes sense as this film represents a transition for first-time director John Hughes. Fresh from a post at the Lampoon magazine, where he penned the seminal classic Vacation, Hughes was about to revolutionize teen-geared filmmaking with his deep understanding of emotional roller coasters and accurate portrayal of the high school social structure. What results is a spotty picture that experiences triumphant highs and... well, not lows per se, but a shocking disconnect with any shred of political correctness. Long Duk Dong is the worst of these offenses, of course, as a blush-inducingly ugly Asian stereotype, while a major plot point in the second act involves handing off a passed-out prom queen for not-so-subtly hinted sexual escapades. At the time this was made, I'm sure, these seemed perfectly acceptable choices for a teen comedy, but it's impossible to imagine most of it surviving the filters today. If we can forgive all that (or maybe just move on from it), Sixteen Candles remains an intrinsically charming, often laugh-out-loud funny film. Molly Ringwald is responsible for a great deal of that, at her blushing, grounded best, while Anthony Michael Hall deserves a nod for his work as her suave-as-he-thinks-he-is wannabe suitor. And I'd completely forgotten about several baby-faced cameos from John and Joan Cusack throughout the story. It spirals out of control at points, especially during the expansive, scattershot school dance, but regroups nicely in time for a touching, classically Hughsian finale. Matched, of course, with the perfect scene-setting new wave tune.

Sadly, this, the entire movie of what you're seeing here, will never happen to you. If so, then you should be crowned lucky. Still, I should be crowned lucky that I managed to live my life the way I wanted it to be and giving Sixteen Candles an okay rating would be an insult to 1980's fans, but in general, it's just plain cheesy. Back in the 1980's, movies were considered cheap and that's where Sixteen Candles become literally cheap. Not the best from John Hughes. Look for a different movie.

As funny as all of John Hughes' other 1980s classics, Sixteen Candles is at times truly hysterical and is equally a great commentary on growing up and turning 16. That said, the film is held back by two major issues. One, it is deeply racist with numerous Asian stereotypes and making fun of its Asian character as much as possible. Additionally, it is mind numbingly sexist. Including trivialization of date **** and caricature female characters, Sixteen Candles feels more like an ode to the days when a man could have a woman whether she wanted him or not. This really odd sequence ruins the film at large and turns it into a cringeworthy and truly dated exercise that leaves one feeling disgusted by the characters in the film more so than entertained. Sixteen Candles may provide laughs, but is morally troublesome.

While this movie obviously didn't aged well to todays standards. This is one of the lesser movies of John Hughes. First it was highly politically incorrect, border lining sexual harassments, promoting adultery, stereotypical racism and downright misogynism. If kids were watching this back in the days, no wonder decades later we get outpours of sexual harassment cases and a peak of #metoo movements, producing the harvey weinsteins and epsteins of our society. This was a recall and glimpse of the dark side of the 80s we didnt like, and rewatching it again, plants us in the face of the ugly reality. Especially the derogative scene where they depict racial jokes against a supposedly chinese, but play japanese music in the background and letting him speak japanese is not only discriminatory, but also shows us how ignorant people were with other culture back in the days and how racially biased Hollywood was to let asian act as stereoptypical dorks. Other than that, the script was mostly irregular and cringe, and some scenes totally didn't make any sense at all. The jokes weren't funny and was downright lazy writing. The actors were casted wrong with apparent age gaps that in normal circumstance would never encounter each other in their respective school settings. The characters were not likeable, not relatable and sometimes downright rude. Don't get me wrong, Molly Ringwald was incredible as ever, but the storytelling and script was embarrassingly cringe and forgettable.

What could have been a perfectly mediocre 80s teen flick is marred by an absolutely horrendous **** subplot that is too often overlooked. Sure "tHe CuLtUrE wAs DiFfErEnT" back then or whatever but that should not excuse how a horrific violation of one of the main characters occurs (admittedly off-screen) and that this is made to serve as a punchline repeatedly throughout the latter half of the movie or so. Absolutely despicable inclusion that should kill any fond memories anyone has of this film.