40. Sixteen Candles (1984)



Leonard Maltin's Rating :
Should be :

IMDB Rating : 7.1

Rotten Tomatoes Rating : 90%

Rotten Tomatoes Consensus : Significantly more mature than the teen raunch comedies that defined the era, Sixteen Candles is shot with compassion and clear respect for his characters and their hang-ups.

Leonard said : "Observant, potentially winning comedy, cluttered up with cheap jokes and offensive material."

I think the Rotten Tomatoes consensus got it right and Leonard got it wrong. This was not offensive compared to most of the teen comedies made back then and it is certainly not as offensive as the teen comedies being made today.

Let's face it, teenagers are goofy, and when you try to portray them as they are, the results aren't always going to be pretty.

The geek, the girl in love, the shallow popular girl, the nice popular boy being manipulated by the shallow girl - we've all seen these kids as we grew up and this movie brings you back to those bittersweet times.


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