Review of Pretty in Pink (1986) by Ben R — 23 Aug 2011

I've heard the hype about how great this movie was for years and how its one of the best 80s teen romantic drama's ever. All I have to say about it is meh...just kidding but that's really how I feel about this movie for the most part. I like Molly Ringwald but got very sick of her character real quick and usually like Andrew McCarthy but could not stand him as the dreamy rich guy who has a good personality. Jon Cryer got right on my nerves to the point where I want to punch him in the face everytime I see him on tv. James Spader was way under used in this but did a good job playing the asshole rich 80s guy as usual. Harry Dean Stanton who is one of the best actors ever gets a shitty role as the token 80s dad who's wife left him and he does a decent job with what he's given but in the end it isn't much. The other side characters such as the rich snobs did a good job playing playing people you hate and the nerds and outcast kids were background decorations. My favorite character out of this whole movie who they seemed to give all kinds of time to develop was Molly Ringwald's boss at the record store played by Annie Potts. I love Annie Potts in Ghostbusters and she did a great job in this but sorta felt like we didn't need to keep into her character here. I felt like she was the only sympathetic person besides Harry Dean stanton's character because you see that shes a middle aged,childless,husbandless woman who just goes further down the endless dark spiral known as the dating world. You sorta see Molly Ringwalds character turning into her if they made a sequel to this ten years after.

The whole movie felt very rushed, predictable and kind of empty for the most part. The whole Molly Ringwald Andrew McCarthy relationship took less then a couple scenes and you're supposed to believe these two people are in love? This is extremely silly when you really break it down. John Cryer as Duckie is probably one of the most obsessive,creepy characters I've seen. They play him off as a cute,harmless loveable buffoon who makes sexual suggestive jokes every chance he gets and its just brushed off by RIngwald. She keeps leading his character on by having him in her room late at night to study and she knows how he feels but keeps on giving him false hope. This is the biggest problem I have with Ringwald's character and lost sympathy for her real quick. When she sees McCarthy in school for the first time they do the most cheesy 80s computer device, where they try and do something that's supposed to be like an instant message but in 1986? That is another thing I hate in 80s movies where someone just presses a button on the keyboard and a picture will just show up and start doing something kinda like in the first Revenge Of The Nerds. After they talk on the school computer together she gets all excited and then later on he buys a really cheesy old record at her shop and that's supposed to be sweet and romantic? Excuse me when I say this but....that is the most retarded idea of romance I've ever heard of,even for an 80's movie. After awhile of seeing McCarthy's character I fucking hated him and his total utter lack of personality. I usually love his 80s work...but this wasn't makin it at all. Early on in the movie its pretty much said that Molly Ringwald's character Andie is obsessed with having money and living in a big mansion. McCarthy's character happens to be rich and yuppie like, so instantly Ringwald is attracted to him when he gives her the smallest bit of attention. They go on a few dates and some "drama" happens, then later on McCarthy has to choose his friend (James Spader) for some stupid reason or Choose Andy. Pretty much I won't give away the ending but you can just guess what happens. If you like banal, predictable,mediocre endings, then this won't disappoint at all.This movie managed to make me hate certain actors I would normally love and that really sucks because I had some high hopes for this. This was not one of John Hughes best writing jobs and the director (Howard Douche) (Yes I said that) was pretty piss poor himself. The editing really sucked and you could tell they really just wanted to rush through this so they could make sixteen candles or one of the other 20 brat pack movies that came out that year. They didn't care about putting substance into this movie whatsoever and I still don't get why this is considered a great 80s movie? Its on ok 80s movie at best and that's all. I gave it a couple stars probably more than it really deserves but it is an 80s movie that has a few actors I love and I think if certain scenes were tweaked a bit and certain characters were developed more this could have been amazing....but for what it is, its a sunday afternoon movie at best.