Sixteen Candles

Sixteen Candles: The main plot of this movie is Samantha, played by Molly Ringwald, waking up to discover that her family has forgotten her sixteenth birthday. She has a massive crush on Jake Ryan, a senior boy that she thinks has no idea she exists. I recently rewatched this after not having seen it in years, and although it is a classic 80's movie, I don’t think it aged well. There are several parts of the movie that caught me off guard because they would never work in a current movie. For example, there is a plot-line where Ted, a freshman “geek” played by Anthony Michael Hall, takes home Caroline, a popular senior girl, while she is drunk and blacked out. They end up making out, and her boyfriend was okay with leaving her with the freshman without knowing whether or not she would be okay. This whole subplot was just kind of weird and I know it would not be made today. There is also a character whose purpose is to be comedic relief, but the main joke about him is that he’s Chinese. This resulted in several uncomfortable jokes that did not need to be there. Besides the weirdly aged jokes and plot-lines, I did kind of like the movie. Looking past the outdated aspects, I think the story is good and relatable to teen girls, and I like the little unrealistic romance part of the movie with Samantha getting the guy at the end. I also found the relationship between Samantha and her father sweet as he was the first to remember her birthday and felt very guilty, but it was clear that he cared for her a lot. Overall, I think this movie is a bit over-hyped and has many jokes that have not aged well.