Review of Pretty in Pink (1986) by Ess T — 11 Jul 2009

So that's what Not Another Teen Movie was spoofing...

Definitely my fave John Hughes 80s movie I've seen thus far, Pretty In Pink felt like an evolution of Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, and the Graduate. It probably isn't as good as any of those movies (though I liked it a good deal more than the James Dean classic) but is equally if not more enjoyable (thanks to its relatively young age of twenty-two years old) than all three. And the high school elements definitely felt real, or at least tangible.

For all its praise, The Breakfast Club was too cut-and-dry, too cookie cutter for me... I had trouble caring about any of the five students and their "we are different.... or are we?" story. Such was not the case with Pretty In Pink. Each of the main characters is distinctly relatable for their different problems: one's too good, one's too bad, and one wonders why another doesn't like other bad ones. That wasn't a very articulate separation, but watch the movie and you'll understand what I'm getting at. The triumvirate they created had me wondering how things would end up and still have me wondering if they wound up that way for the best.

Like several teen movies, the acting feels overdramatic at times. This is offset by those moments that make the viewer remember what high school was like, however. The things I cared and worried about came through, maybe not consistently but enough times throughout the movie to give me a real sense of nostalgia. And what better actress to pull this off than Molly Ringwald, the 80s teen queen? Even when the script leans towards corniness, she pulls it back past tolerability with her performance. The other actors play their roles nicely, though I did find Jon Cryer a tad annoying (oddly enough, he might be the character I could relate to the most). And while I didn't really notice anything about the technical prowess as a whole, Andie's lonely, confused wander in the halls near the end was a very, very, very good shot. I would've taken you, Andie!

Sixteen Candles is the last of Ringwald and Hughes' big three films that I need to see. If it's as good as Pretty in Pink, I will be very pleased.

"I just want them to know that they didn't break me.".