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Promotional Line: "It's the time of your
life that may last a lifetime."
Described as a coming-of-age, warmhearted, teenage
comedy, that take us through a few days in the life of teenage
10th grader, Samantha Baker, around her sixteenth birthday. In
a humorous fashion, it explores the personal woes of Samantha,
who so looked forward to becoming sixteen. Her special day doesn't
start off so well. Unfortunately, her birthday falls on the day
before her older sister's wedding, and everyone in her family,
including both sets of grandparents, forget her birthday, so consumed
with wedding angst and preparation are they.
On the home front, besides enduring the hurt
of being forgotten, she also has to endure her spoiled siblings
(Justin Henry and Blanch Baker), distracted parents (Paul Dooley
and Carlin Glynn), and both sets of eccentric grandparents, and
a weird, Japanese exchange student (Gedde Watanabe) who is staying
with one set of the grandparents, played by veteran character
actors (Edward Andrews, Billie Bird). Teens watching this movie
count their lucky stars, realizing that their parents, siblings
and relatives aren't this forgetful, annoying,and embarrassing.
At school, Samantha (Molly Ringwald), is suffering
from a terrible crush on a handsome, senior boy, Jake (Michael
Schoeffling), who doesn't know, she thinks, that she is alive,
and is already taken by a gorgeous, well-endowed, popular senior
blonde. At the same time, much to her annoyance, she finds herself
the subject of the clumsy, pushy, amorous attention, of a geeky
freshman (Anthony Michael Hill), who desires to be a ninth grade
stud muffin, envied by all the other ninth grade boys.
The talented John Hughes wrote and directed this
hilarious screenplay. Such teenage trials, woes, and tribulations
are woven into a hilariously clever script, offering an entertaining,
"sparkly" comedic masterpiece, with twists, turns and
surprises. Comedy in this movie is based on comedic timing, a
clever, well-paced, imaginative script, great direction and a
great cast that works well together; not on crude jokes, bad language,
and sexual situations found in some of today's teen comedies.
Molly Ringwald really captures the role of Samantha,
and carries the movie nicely. She works well with the entire cast,
that all had a lot of fun with their parts.
Max Showalter, as Grandpa Fred, Carol Cook, as
Grandma Helen, Edward Andrews as Grandpa Howard, and Billie Bird
as Grandma Dorothy, did a wonderful job and had a great time playing
the amusing, annoying, embarrassing grandparents of Samantha,
who come to stay in the Baker House for the wedding. All these
great character actors and actresses bring their years of experience
to their performances and add a lot to the story.
Anthony Michael Hill does a convincing job portraying
an enterprising freshman geek who wants to be admired for being
the studmuffin of the freshman class. Hill uses his talent to
portray a go-getter who turns out to be a good friend to Samantha.
Favorite Scenes include: The wedding scenes;
On her big day, the older sister takes too many relaxants to relieve
her period cramps, and delivers a very funny, sidesplitting performance.
Also, the school dance scenes, and the party at Jake's house are
the places when key plot twists are developed, much to the amusement
of the audience. The romantic ending is not too smultzy, but has
just the right amount of tenderness found in a beginning relationship.
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