Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Micah Lloyd
Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Lucia Ayala
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
nyhanka
I watched this for the first time ever today, always having heard it referred to as a classic. Hysterical racism, casual rape, this movie is so off-colour I couldn't even laugh at the genuinely funny bits. Wowee. Thank god we made it out of the 80s
rhiadejong
I'm gonna start with the good stuff though it is few and far between. First of all, the main character, Samantha, was a pretty well drawn character. She is 3 dimensional as main characters are meant to be. She is also pretty funny and relatable. The second was the wedding scene that was pretty funny. But that's about it in terms of good stuff.Now the bad stuff. I had to watch this film for media studies and it made me feel physically sick, it was a completely revolting film. Now I'm gonna tell you why there are two MAJOR issues with this film first off it is RACIST (and homophobic but not as glaringly). The exchange student was there simply to add to the chaos of the household but was just walking semi stereotyped walking gag. The big rat that topped this super coated cake was believe it or not RAPE. Yep, the geek character takes advantage of the drunk popular girl at a party, it is not shown, but the morning after she is, (apparently) fine with it! completely unrealistic and also what the (insert ten thousand super bad swear words) kind of message is this sending to young people especially males. Now something else that made my blood boil was that the romantic interest was the one who suggested and helped this geek guy date rape his girlfriend. Apparently the audience is still supposed to be looking forward to seeing said guy kiss the girl. So for an alternative ending, I imagined Samantha jumping in Jake's car then repeatedly running both Jake and the geek over while eating her cake. This helped me keep my lunch inside the lining of my stomach.I understand people saying to watch film in the context of the time and place they were made, I certainly managed to keep that in mind when watching Rebel without a cause. However Sixteen Candles cannot be watched with this in mind, it has no excuse whatsoever.so please please please do not let anyone, old or young, male or female ever see this film
Evan Wessman (CinematicInceptions)
Of the John Hughes films I've seen, this is probably the worst. It tries to have some slightly deep messages like Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Planes Trains and Automobiles, but kind of falls short. It was entertaining much of the time, but some of the more off color stuff like the gags involving Long Duk Dong failed to be amusing. As they go, John Hughes is great when it comes to making off color jokes that don't completely turn off certain audience members, but I guess he was still working on it at this point.The story centers around a character that deserves sympathy, but complains a lot about it. Not that she doesn't deserve to complain, but it just makes her a little less likable as a character. Certainly it's an accurate portrayal of sixteen year old girls with Sam's polarized emotions and evident insecurity about her appearance. In some ways, this makes Jake Dyer a less realistic character. I think the point of his character was to show that it's okay for teenage guys to have a heart. However, this results in the story becoming something like the inverse of the cliché where the loser guy ends up with the dream girl (examples include but are not limited to Spiderman, Transformers, Alladin). It's an unfortunate thing, but I do not see any real-life 18 year old's making the same decision that Jake does. I suppose this accounts for the presence of the Geek/Farmer Ted, who I'm sure more of the male presence in the audience relate to.The plot has more layers to it than the usual comedy, but is not at all hard to follow. What is a little surprising is how passive Samantha is in context of the plot. After all, she doesn't go to Jake's party, which is a pretty big part of the story. I can't think of one thing she does to motivate the eventual concluding scene. I suppose her one quality that makes her deserve the rewards of her suffering is her honesty. She's not that shy about her feelings for Jake, but never acts on them exactly.Despite some of its other flaws, it is consistently amusing with jokes surrounding the Geek, Samantha's dysfunctional family, Joan and John Cusaks' characters, and the general awkwardness of being in high school. It has a similar feel to Breakfast Club because of the actors, but the comedy is much more situational here, whereas it's more verbal in Breakfast Club. There are some classic lines in Sixteen Candles too, but not that many.If you like John Hughes or the Brat Pack, this should satisfy, though it's not his or their best. Don't let the PG rating fool you into thinking it's a family-friendly movie, especially if Ferris Bueller does not fit that standard either. By modern ratings, it would be a fairly high PG-13. Also I'll warn you that it does not take place over one day. I was expecting this and it kind of worsened the experience. Finally, I will add that the portrayal of Long Duk Dong could easily come off as offensive to the Chinese exchange student stereotype. But if none of that deters you, give it a shot. Overall Rating: 7.6/10.
Jess Noor
An unrequited crush, your obnoxious grandparents are staying over, your sister's getting married, and your parents forgot your birthday. Could anything get worse? Sixteen Candles, released in 1984 and directed by John Hughes answers this question and proves that no matter how bad it gets, a happy ending is always possible. Samantha Baker, our heroine is a high school sophomore who happens to be having the worst week of her life. Jake Ryan, a senior, has every girl in the school's heart, including Sam's. Through trial and error accompanied by a foreign exchange student's wackiness, being stalked by a geeky freshman with a huge crush on her, and attending a school dance nervous and alone, Sam's attempts to woo Jake make for one of the most influential movies of the 1980s. The cinematography of Sixteen Candles is flawless. Soundtrack from timeless media makes its way into the picture. Perfect camera angles capture the emotion of the scene perfectly. Through twists and turns, the plot weaves itself into a classic love story. The need for acceptance is a primary theme in Sixteen Candles. Sam is unassertive about her appearance and place in society, Caroline flaunts her beauty out of insecurity, and the Geek feels a need to stand out. Many teens will find Sixteen Candles uplifting and relatable. An absolutely perfect movie by one of the best directors of the decade. 10/10.
