Sixteen Candles

Sure, everyone coos over The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but it was writer-director John Hughes’ first adolescent flick, 1984’s Sixteen Candles, that established him as the Frank Capra of the “teen film”—and no filmmaker has ever come close to matching his magic. Forget that it’s about white, upper-middle class suburban teens with petty problems, because the film’s message is universal: “different is best.” The heroes are the goofballs – Anthony Michael Hall, John and Joan Cusack, Gedde Watanabe, and certainly the totally un-Barbie, Molly Ringwald. Everyone is imperfect, awkward and afraid – except for the gorgeous, dull, Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), and it is he who learns the big lesson: be kind to weird kids and date girls who are interesting instead of hot, no makeover necessary.

Wed., May 6, 7:30 p.m., 2015

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *