Sixteen Candles

1984
PG
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

130K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:49

Farce Teen Comedy Teen Romance Comedy Romance

A girl's "sweet" sixteenth birthday is anything but special: her family forgets about it, and she suffers from every embarrassment possible.A girl's "sweet" sixteenth birthday is anything but special: her family forgets about it, and she suffers from every embarrassment possible.A girl's "sweet" sixteenth birthday is anything but special: her family forgets about it, and she suffers from every embarrassment possible.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

130K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,139

245

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 2:49

Theatrical Trailer

Photos176

+ 170

More like this

6.7

Pretty in Pink

7.8

The Breakfast Club

6.6

Weird Science

7.8

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

7.3

Say Anything

7.0

Some Kind of Wonderful

7.1

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

6.4

6.6

7.1

7.3

7.1

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald initially disliked each other, so John Hughes took them to a record store and they bonded after they found out they like the same music. One of the groups they liked was The Rave-Ups which Molly scribbled on Samantha's notebook.

Goofs
When the family is leaving for the wedding, the grandparents all pile into the car, but it was not large enough to accommodate the group. Grandma Baker squats near the passenger door to create the impression that she is sitting in the car. However, when the car is backing out of the driveway, you briefly see her curved back remain stationary while the car moves away from her.

Quotes
The Geek: [to Samantha] Can I borrow your underpants for 10 minutes?

Alternate versions
VHS releases, cable TV broadcasts, and the initial DVD release change the majority of the soundtrack. The 2003 DVD and Blu-ray release restore the original theatrical soundtrack.

Connections
Edited into Weird Science (1985)

Soundtracks
Snowballed
Written by Angus Young (uncredited), Malcolm Young (uncredited) and Brian Johnson (uncredited)
Performed by AC/DC
Courtesy of Leidseplein Presse B.V. / J. Albert Ltd.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User reviews264

Review

Featured review

7/10

The eighties were great weren't they

Films like Sixteen Candles personify what the eighties was all about. And if you were a child of the 80s, you will probably identify with this film a lot more than the now younger generation. The story is simple enough, but it works so well. Molly Ringwald is particularly likeable in this, and she is almost irreplaceable in her part. There are heaps of familiar faces, including small parts from many of the present day 'movie stars' ie John Cusack, Joan Cusack and Jami Gertz. It's kind of daggy though, and when you tell people you watched it their response is usually "Oh My God. That is so OLD." But that's what I like about it. If you want to watch a film that reflects the eighties, forget the nostalgia trips of The Wedding Singer and Romy and Michelle. Hire a true eighties product, such as Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, St Elmo's Fire.... The list goes on and on.