BEFORE: Yup, it's Molly Ringwald's birthday, which I believe was a national holiday for a few years back in the 1980's, but she's a little older than 16 now. She'll have to share Birthday SHOUT-out #15 with the late John Hughes. Tough to link from last night's film, but not impossible - Zooey Deschanel from "(500) Days of Summer" was also in "Yes Man" with Terence Stamp, who was in "Valkyrie" with Tom Cruise, who was in "The Outsiders" with Emilio Estevez, who was in "The Breakfast Club" with Molly Ringwald.
THE PLOT: A young girl's "sweet 16th" birthday becomes anything but special as she suffers from every embarrassment possible.
AFTER: This was the first film John Hughes directed, and though it kicked off the teen-comedy wave of the 1980's, it clearly feels like someone's first film. It's got a lot of people acting stupidly, and most of the jokes don't really land. Why was this so popular? I must be missing something.
There are a lot of miscommunications and awkward moments, but no one ever seems interested in straightening anything out. So instead of detailing the ins and outs of teen romance, instead it devolves into something like slapstick.
Among the things that I didn't find funny: a bride on painkillers acting weird, playing the theme from "The Godfather" to imply an Italian family is part of the mob, trashing a house during a teen party, wrecking a Rolls-Royce, and something close to date-rape. Plus the very notable racist portrayal of an Asian exchange student.
Also starring Anthony Michael Hall, Paul Dooley (last seen in "Hairspray"), John Cusack (last seen in "America's Sweethearts"), and Justin Henry (last seen in "Kramer vs. Kramer")
RATING: 3 out of 10 beer-can pyramids
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