B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping John Hughes’s Sixteen Candles into the ol’ VCR. 

Okay, before I say anything else, I want to address a couple of things here. 1) John Hughes was horrible to Molly Ringwald and 2) There are several offensive things in this movie. I fully recognize both of these points, and I don’t condone any of the problematic content in this movie. 

I’m only here to talk about Sixteen Candles because I watch it every year during my birthday week, in a tradition that started long before I could recognize its flaws. It was something I initially shared with KP, and I’ve been watching it every year for the past 16 years. 

I get Chinese takeout (like we always used to), and it’s a whole tradition. Again, I don’t condone any of the offensive content within this movie. It’s just a silly little tradition I’ve kept alive, by myself, and it’s one I want to continue, especially with KP being gone. 

Alrighty, now that I’ve probably overshared and over-explained things (two of my many talents), let’s talk Sixteen Candles. 

This has been all of our Facebook cover photos at one point or another. 

When I was 15, my sister got me two very distinct gifts: a nice razor and a John Hughes movie pack that came in a Trapper Keeper, complete with soundtracks. Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, and The Breakfast Club were all included. While I love Weird Science and The Breakfast Club both, Sixteen Candles is the one I revisit annually. 

Call it the romantic in me, or the fact that I wasn’t super popular in high school, but Molly Ringwald’s Sam Baker became an idol for my teenage self. Granted, she’s a little Rory Gilmore-y at times, but I just loved her. I also used to yearn for my own Jake Ryan, who would be standing behind a passing car to sweep me away. Granted, Jake Ryan also has some flaws, but I was a teenager at the time. And would only make the mistake of liking the wrong people for 13-14 more years, at least. 

Fortunately, KP never forgot a single birthday, and she made a huge deal out of not only the day, but the month. She once filled my entire bedroom with balloons. And when I say my entire bedroom, I mean you couldn’t see the floor. While I didn’t know Sam’s forgotten birthday plight, I still reveled in her teen angst. 

I used to be obsessed with this outfit. 

Now, on the precipice of 31, I recognize all of the flaws of Sixteen Candles and its characters. But, I just can’t let it go. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a creature of habit, I miss KP, or the tiniest part of 15-year-old Baillee lives on, but my annual rewatch of Sixteen Candles is something I can’t seem to shake. 

On that note, I’ll leave you with one of the best pieces of 80s fatherly advice from Paul Dooley’s Jim Baker I can muster: “That’s why they call ‘em crushes. If they were easy, they’d call ‘em something else.” 

Sixteen Candles is now streaming on Hulu.