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Sixteen Candles Customer Reviews (34 - 36 of 49 Reviews)

HEY, HEY NICE MANNERS, BABE
If you grew up in the 1980s you have to have seen this movie and probably loved it. The soundtrack alone is worthwhile. Molly Ringwald plays Samantha Baker. Her older sister is getting married, and the wedding has kept her family so preoccupied that they completely forget her 16th birthday. Her family is a collection of crazies, including the visiting grandparents who take over her room (and she cannot even share her annoying brother's bedroom because the extra bed is occupied by one set of grandparents' foreign exchange student, Long Duck Dong). Sam also nearly dies of embarrassment more than once, as she fills out a questionnaire in school on which she writes that she would like to have sex with the most popular guy in school, Jake Ryan. She tries to pass the note to her best friend, but because the friend is sleeping in class, Jake Ryan himself gets a hold of the note. Also Sam is constantly being harassed by the king of dorks, Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall). No need to go on and on about the silly plot. You should just watch it for fun... for nostalgia's sake... because you like to fantasize about the not so popular getting together with the popular. For whatever reason you watch, it is a fun movie.

"Fred! She's gotten her boobies!"
Ah yes, Sixteen Candles. John Hughes' debut film, the first of three over the next three years to star Ringwald. Sam (Ringwald) is turning sixteen. But her sister's getting married, her grandparents are in town, and she's being pursued by a pretty relentless geek named Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall). She's also madly in love with the school jock, but he doesn't seem to notice her. Amid the hectic life, Sam's family seemingly forgets her birthday altogether. Even when it's crude, Candles is never cruel, and it's sharply, hilariously observant about the rituals of high school interaction and the sense of longing and belonging underlying them -- something Hughes lost as his later teen films swerved into heavy-handed melodramatics.

Hughes especially finds humor in the Chinese exchange student character Long Duk Dong, who discovers the joys of American life at the same dance and party that proves most other characters' undoing. Today, John Hughes would have been crucified by the PC herd for Dong, unless of course he was John Singleton. But I felt Dong was one of the best things in this film and makes me really miss the politically incorrect 80's.

"No more yankie my wankie. The Donger need food." Now THAT's a funny line!

As for the DVD - Sixteen Candles is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but has not been anamorphically enhanced. The transfer of this film borders on terrible - there is an almost totally constant presence of digital noise and film grain and there is some dirt and white pops on the print as well. The fleshtones are pretty reddish, and color saturation on the whole is disappointing. No extras to speak of, well you get a deluxe snapper case, and hey - chapter stops! Neato!

Great movie - BAD DVD
This was a fun movie. It does not take itself seriously and pokes fun at its characters. Some of the pokig fun is not politically correct (to wit - Long Duk Dong, and some of the BoHunk comments)) but that was a bit of the 80's.

This DVD has the original soundtrack, previously unavailable on VHS or the old DVD, and it still holds up.

THE BAD PART
Where to start - the packaging is cheap cheap CHEAP! They did not even put in a little card to tell you the chapter names. There is no commentary, no extras, NOTHING!

PLUS when you put it in, it goes through ads for other movies and DISABLES THE MENU BUTTON!

Again, this is a fun, 80's movie, but the DVD is so cheap and so obnoxious to the fans/owners that I hate to recommend it becuse the people who put it together were such jerks.

But I do recommend it. Enjoy.

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