John Hughes Week: Sixteen Candles

I've always had a soft spot for the film Sixteen Candles. It was the directorial debut of John Hughes, telling the story of a sixteen year old girl whose entire family forgets her sixteenth birthday. Unlike the more dramatic and honest The Breakfast Club, this film is a screwball comedy that is just straight up fun, but with a lot of heart to it as well.

Samantha Baker (played by Molly Ringwald) awakes on her sixteenth birthday, which also happens to be the eve of her sister Ginny's wedding, to discover that her entire family has completely forgotten her birthday. She is shocked even both sets of her Grandparents have forgotten as well as everyone is focused on Bridezilla Ginny (played by Blanche Baker). 

She sulks off to school where she faces both a horn dog geek going by the name Farmer Ted (played by Anthony Michael Hall) and her crush Jake Ryan (played by Michael Schoeffling), who unbeknownst to her is crushing on her right back. In an effort to avoid both her family and the weird Chinese exchange student Long Duk Dong (played by Gedde Watanabe) staying with her grandparents, she decides to head off to the school dance. Forced to take Long Duk Dong with her, Samantha finds herself face to face with both Jake Ryan and Farmer Ted. Needless to say, neither encounter goes well, although Samantha and Ted have a nice chat after she flees his more misguided attempt to woo her. Realizing he has not shot, Ted more or less backs off and the two part as friends. Ted more or less even finds himself as an unlikey Cupid of sorts, bringing Jake and Samantha together through his encounters between the two. 

With a cast full of colorful characters and plenty of genuinely funny moments throughout makes for a memorable teen comedy. A significant portion of the film takes place at one of the most over the top house party ragers I've ever seen, thrown by Jake's spoiled brat of a girlfriend, Caroline (played by Haviland Morris) at Jake's Parent's house. The party itself seems to have all sorts there, including Ted, his two friends Bryce and Cliff (played by John Cusack and Darren Harris), Long Duk Dong and a girl he picked up at the dance. 

Some of the humor of the film may skirt political incorrectness at times, especially with the character of Long Duk Dong almost coming off as a racist caricature. But at the same time, the film almost seems to subvert that once Long gets to the party and finds his own place, becoming a wild party animal. The other part that some may cringe at a bit is Jake sending his drunken girlfriend home with Ted, in his father's Rolls Royce no less, with at least some insinuation that Ted took advantage of the situation. 

Still, despite the more dated aspects of the film, Sixteen Candles remains one of the more consistently funny teen comedies. It remains one of my favorites in part because it doesn't play it safe. It's fearless in the way it skirts controversy, before pulling back to end with the sweet and endearing. I've seen it countless times and it's always been one I've relied on to make me laugh.