Sixteen Candles

Kates and I continued our study of John Hughes films last night ...

After finally watching "The Breakfast Club" last weekend, I mentioned my sudden urge to see "Sixteen Candles," the John Huges/Molly Ringwald/Anthony Michael Hall -- if you will -- prequel to "Breakfast Club." So Kates immediately went online and reserved it at our library; she brought it home the other night.

Like with "The Breakfast Club," I found myself thoroughly enjoing Anthony Michael Hall's geek character. And Ringwald was fun to watch as the just-turned-16 Samantha Baker crushing on the popular boy in school. Seeing a young John Cusack and sis Joan playing their respective geeky characters was an extra special treat.

My overall reaction of the film though? ... Eh.

To be sure, it is lighter and funnier fare than "Breakfast Club." ... But I expected the plot to draw more on Samantha's family forgetting her birthday. At the outset it seemed that the storyline would run for the duration of the film, but there's still a lot of movie left when Samantha's parents realize their mistake and apologize. The rest of the film is left to a cooky wedding ceremony, the aftermath of Jake Ryan's wild party and then the love-ly ending ...

Like with "The Breakfast Club," 25 years has taken a lot of the edge off "Sixteen Candles."

(Update: 08.18.2009 -- John Hughes: The soundtrack to a generation ... A good read about the music Hughes included in his films.)