Uneven Hughes film (Sixteen Candles (DVD))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Sixteen Candles (DVD)
Date:	20/07/09 (3 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cast

Disadvantages: Poor plotting, slightly racist

John Hughes may have had plenty of successes with the likes of the seminal The Breakfast Club, and no doubt the Home Alone series, but he also endured a couple of misses, such as the Molly Ringwald star vehicle Sixteen Candles, a woefully undercooked 80s teen comedy that's got a likeable cast, but characters who are mostly the exact opposite.

Samantha "Sam" Baker (Molly Ringwald), an uncomfortable and misfit-like high school sophomore, is trying to make it through her sixteenth birthday, which turns out to surely be one of the zaniest and most action-packed birthdays anyone has ever had. Not only does her entire family forget her birthday, but her sister Ginny (Blanche Baker) is getting married the day after, and she must attempt to keep her hopeless love for Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) under wraps. Meanwhile, she forms a trio of hapless misfits, along with the rather racist caricature Long Duk Dong (Gedde Watanabe), and geeky, sexually impaired freshman (Anthony Michael Hall).

Sadly, not even the charms of Ringwald and Hall can save this film - it's lazily scripted and just breezes by with teen cliches and the irksome characterisation of Long Duk Dong, even playing a gong every time his name is mentioned. It's painfully unfunny, and even a little offensive, to be honest. The film's biggest problem, though, is that there's nobody to root for. Everyone is mostly irritating, and not even in a morally complex fashion - they're all dislikeable cardboard cutouts with no ACTUAL problems.

Certainly one of the weaker 80s teen comedies, Sixteen Candles is only occasionally interesting, mostly contented to coast along with its cliched and empty-headed plot, and its throng of mostly dislikeable characters.

Summary: A dull and unimportant teen film