For my top 100 movie, I chose 16 candles after Muench referenced it in a conversation and I didn’t recognize the quote. It is a very simple premise, family forgets girls birthday, girl has crush on “unattainable” guy, “unattainable” guy secretly likes girl. Hilarity and a variety of wild antics ensue. There’s the token person of color for comedic relief, very common for the 80s, the “unattainable” guy is perfectly dumb and lacking in personality. There’s hairspray, a ridiculous amount of blue eyeshadow, and stereotypical characters galore. Yet somehow, it is still really really good.  

One of my favorite things about the movie was the sound effects. Every time the Chinese exchange student came on the screen there would be a loud gong. It wasn’t to punctuate any action or anything actually important, it was just because he had come on screen. As the bride threw her shoe, there was the throwing and crashing sound that is typically associated with cartoons. No real life sound actually mimics that. When something wild would happen, there would be a loud boing noise. When something bad happened, there would be some sort of intimidating or supposedly scary sound effect to darken the mood. It was brilliantly done and added a lot to the tone of the movie, it was also amusing because it is very different from the way movies are done today. Modern movies typically only have background music to help establish the mood of the scene. Pensive piano or eerie noises. But with 16 candles, it sounds like someone is sitting down at a sound board and pressing different buttons on whim. That’s one of my favorite things in general about older movies.

The acting in this movie was also incredible. I already adored Molly Ringwald but the other actors such as Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Schoeffling were very good. I always enjoy the over the top acting of 80s movies. The faces that the actors make are so expressive, it’s as if they’re acting on stage but getting filmed. The stereotypes are fulfilled perfectly. The geek, the jock, the party girl, the outsider. It reminds me of the breakfast club. Characters forming unlikely friendships, having a great revelation about how people exist outside of their friend group. The ending was probably one of the best endings ever but the prompt said specifically to not talk about that so I guess I’m not.

I didn’t notice a lot about filming or lighting. To be fair, it was back in the 80s so jazzy shots weren’t really the norm quite yet. There were a lot of iconic moments that I now understand the references to. The red corvette, the “me? Yeah you” moment, the “hey sexy girlfriend”. And now I’m stuck wishing someone would pick me up in a red corvette.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good romantic comedy or a throwback to the 80s. It is for sure getting put on my list of top 20 favorite movies of all time, along with Pulp Fiction and the Breakfast Club.