It was easy to decide what would be the first movie of 2021 that I watch. With Qandi's Sweet Sixteenth birthday on January 1st, the clear choice was "Sixteen Candles". It's a movie I own because it was one of my favorite movies of all time. WAS.
"Sixteen Candles" is about Sam, a high school student whose sixteenth birthday her entire family forgets. Her sweet sixteen is overshadowed by her sister's wedding, which is happening the next day. Poor planning on their part! Sam is basically a miserable teenager hoping to end up with the jock she has a crush on.
After having watched it again, I'm now struggling to figure out why I loved this movie so much. The script is offensive in several ways. Sam's brother behaves inappropriately throughout the movie and no one seems to teach him any better. That makes his parents irresponsible and equally inappropriate. Sam's mother, as well as her friend, are racist and the movie makes it seem like it's no big deal. There's inappropriate touching by Sam's grandmother. Why doesn't Sam say something about this? Doesn't she realize it's wrong? She doesn't seem bothered by it at all, which in itself is disturbing. The word "retarded" is thrown around with no respect for people with disabilities. While I was dismayed by all of the above, the offensive use of the word "retarded" was the part that bothered me the most.
I am sure I left some of the negatives out. I just can't believe I once loved this movie. On a positive note, I still do love the final scene in the movie where Sam and Jake are sitting on the table (yes, ON the table) and they kiss over her birthday cake while "Sixteen Candles" is playing in the background. Happy endings make me...well...happy, and I didn't even mind that it was predictable. Perhaps that is why I remembered the movie so fondly. It is an iconic scene (although even that scene has its major fault - it's a fire hazard to kiss over sixteen lit candles, I would think).
Unfortunately, the iconic scene was not enough for me to say it was worth watching again. Some movies have stood the test of time. This is not one of them.
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