Rose bonbon

I have seen all John Hughes movies from the 80s starring Molly Ringwald and you can't really watch them without comparing them. "Sixteen candles" is more of a "pure" teen-comedy with a big house party followed by a "hangover"-morning, and "Breakfast Club" is the most serious one and, as far as I'm concerned, the most distinctive of the "Brat-pack" movies.

Breakfast Club is the one I like the most, but "Pretty in pink" is also a very good movie. Molly plays (as always) a very unusual girl who lives with her lazy but very caring father (Harry Dean Stanton). She has only two real friends and one of them is a guy called "Duckie". Duckie is kind of a geek and Jon Cryer does this part so good you don't even miss Anthony Michael Hall a bit. Molly also works in a record store owned by her other friend played by Annie Potts.

Molly falls in love with a rich and popular guy (McCarthey) who has mutual feelings. The story is very cliché with a rich guy and a poor girl from two opposite sides of society who falls in love, causing disappointments among their old friends. Duckie is really hurt and McCarthey's best friend tells him to drop Molly, mostly caused by jealousy in this case. This jealous friend is played by James Spader and he is very good at playing bad. The cliché's are told with charm and intelligence though (like "Mischief") and some scenes almost brings tears to the eyes. (I wonder if the movie would have been even better if Hughes had directed it himself!?)

Anyway, it's a sweet story with many wonderful actors typical of the 80s. Remember to look for a very young and very gorgeous Gina Gershon as a High School girl.

The only thing I miss is a great song or two, like the ones in Sixteen candles and Breakfast club. Otherwise if you're crazy like me about the movies from the 80s I see no reason to skip this one.

This movie also has one of the most clever titles ever.

It is hard to believe that this was 13 years ago. Has it really been that long since we said goodbye to the Brat-Pack? When I watched Pretty In Pink it made me laugh, but more importantly it brought me back to a time that was fun, had less pressure ( in some ways ), and there were a plethora of films that were made aimed at us teens. The early 80's will at least partly be remembered as a time when teen flicks ruled. Everything from Fast Times and Porky's to The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink, they were all there and they all tried to do the same thing. Entertain. Sure John Hughes always seemed to have some heavy issues in his films, but ultimately his films were there for us to enjoy for 90 minutes. Pretty In Pink is one of the best at accomplishing that.

What makes this film such the standout that it is, is everything really. The actors were fresh and cool. The dialogue was smart and easy for us to relate to. The situations of love covered areas that we have probably all been through. There was the unobtainable love that just seemed like a fantasy. There was the two really good friends, one male and one female, that just weren't meant to be lovers and the heartbreak that one is inevitably going to experience. There was perhaps not being accepted by your love interests peers and so on. Watching this film I could understand how Duckie felt. I could feel his anger when he watches his best friend, and his secret love interest, date the personification of what ( and Andie ) consider the personification of snobbery. She has probably complained many a night about how she is tired of being treated unfairly just because she wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and now she dates one. I could feel Ducky's pain. And that can be attributed to John Hughes for writing a brilliant script, but also to Jon Cryer for making his character what he is. You can sense his insecurities and his undying devotion to a girl that he knows he will probably never get. And when he sits with Andies dad and chats about love, there is one of the greatest lines in the film. Jack ( Harry Dean Stanton ) tells him that you can't force love, it is either goging to happen or it isn't. You can't control these things. And that is what makes love so painful. While you may be perfect for someone, that someone wants the perfection of someone else. And that sucks, love's a bitch Duck. Love's a bitch.

Pretty In Pink epitomizes everything that made the 80's a great time for teen flicks. Secret loves, proms, a great soundtrack and John Hughes. What more can you ask for? This is one of the best.

Possible spoilers: To hell with the Duckie vs. Blane question. Steff's the only interesting one.

1. He's fearless: Duckie's afraid to tell Andie he loves her, Blane's afraid of his friends, but Steff walks up and hits on her right in front of his friends without caring what they'll think. He exploits Blane's shame about Andie but clearly feels no shame himself.

2. Duckie's suffering puppy love, Blane's just curious, but Steff has been after Andie for years. When he says it's "not *only* for sex," he's probably telling the truth, in his own sarcastic way. Key scene, when Blane and Andie walk in on Steff and Benny Bimbo, and Steff clearly wishes he were with the hot geeky girl, instead of the vapid blonde, even if Benny is better-looking, sexually available, and approved by his friends. And it's not only the challenge attracts him to Andie: despite his arrogance, he's probably been turned down before. He just suspects that with Andie, he'd have something real, and with Benny, whether her ecstasy is real or faked, it will be conducted according to "Cosmo."

3. He's willing to fight for what he wants, i.e., sabotaging Andie's relationship with Blane. OK, he's fighting dirty--but he's fighting at all. The others are about as decisive as Hamlet.

Right, enough deep thought devoted to what should probably be regarded as another teen movie. I give full credit to Spader, who fleshed out what could have been a one-dimensional baddie by making him really interested in Andie in his own sociopathic way, instead giving lip-service to a script that could have been played with the character being vicious solely out of hurt pride and snobbery.

PRETTY IN PINK

STARRING: MOLLY RINGWALD, ANDREW MCCARTHY

Molly Ringwald plays Andie, a poor girl who lives with her father after her mother left them. She falls in love with a "richie", as she calls him, named Blane (who is played by Andrew McCarthy) but the pressure of friends is in the way of their relationship being perfect. Meanwhile, Andie's best friend Duckie is declaring even more his undying love for her.

"Pretty in Pink" is one of those great teen movies that only comes along once. It has a fantastic sound track, cute guys, a great leading lady and a clever plot with some of the most romantic movie scenes of its time. It defines the 80s high school years with its cliques, which still are around until this day, and the problems that occur when you fall in love with someone else on the other side of the tracks.

I give this movie **** out of *****

John Hughes knows the 80's. And this proves it. The film is a drama/comedy about a teenage girl and her problems in social and family life. Though I am a guy, I identified with a lot of the problems and I thought there was so much to like in this film. It's just that this is a little softer than the other Hughes films. Maybe cause he didn't direct it. Molly Ringwald gives her best yet and Harry Dean Stanton has never been more tender. Good 80's film, but not in the best column. By the way, Andrew Dice Clay appears as a bouncer, so pay attention to his part which highlights the film for me. A