This is doubly weird. I’ve stopped mid-Sixteen Candles review, to write this review of Pretty in Pink. You see, Pretty in Pink is the only entry in the John Hughes-Molly Ringwald trilogy that I don’t actually own, buy my local library here in Connecticut happens to have it available for free, so I figure I should take care of it while I easily can.

Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald [The Stand, Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story]) is very, very poor. Her father Jack (Harry Dean Stanton [Private Benjamin, Escape From New York]) is unemployed and unmotivated, while her best friend Duckie (Jon Cryer [No Small Affair, Hot Shots!]) is a freak, but at least her boss Iona (Annie Potts [Ghostbusters, Designing Women]) is sympathetic. On the other hand, Blane (Andrew McCarthy [Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie’s]) is very, very rich. His best friend Steff (James Spader [Sex, Lies, and Videotape, The Music of Chance]) is a total creep. When Andie and Blane start to get to know each other, they discover that they really like each other. This collision of worlds causes angst. Will the angst resolve itself before the prom, or will an army of archetypes smother everyone’s hopes and dreams with their horrifyingly exaggerated sense of class-consciousness?

Andie Walsh is a very cool character. She is totally in touch with herself and who she is, and she doesn’t take any shit from anyone. She can pretty much instantaneously figure out what anyone’s motivations are, and she has no illusions about how the world works. Her father’s lack of responsibility, following Andie’s mother’s abandonment of the family, forces her to manage the household affairs. She’s also a very creative person, as demonstrated by the fact that she makes her own unique clothes to save money. This is definitely a more demanding role for Molly Ringwald than her characters in Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, but I think she pulls it off well. Once again, she is playing a character who is the same age as she was at the time (18), unlike today’s teen movies in which teenagers are usually played by people closer to their mid-twenties. She really conveys a sense of somewhat embittered worldliness and defiant dignity. Also, I like her here with lighter, longer hair than in Sixteen Candles.

Blane is rich (Well, they tell us that he’s rich, and he drives a BMW.), but unlike evidently every other rich person in town, he is also sweet, thoughtful, considerate, and romantic. Also, he’s a bit of a pussy (More on that later). He’s not judgmental about people on the basis of their social status; he gets involved with Andie because he likes her, even though her family doesn’t have money. And his family does, because they tell us so. What I’m getting at here, oh-so-subtly, is the fact that Blane’s wealth is never really demonstrated. You remember what your English teacher told you in high school, right? “Show, don’t tell.” Well, they really dedicate a lot of time to “telling” when it comes to Blane and his money. Andrew McCarthy is quite cute, even if he is a little bit frail-looking and could use some color in his cheeks. He also delivers his lines well enough. Unfortunately, though, his eyes do not participate in his acting. They just sort of sit there in his head, utterly disconnected from the emotions he is supposed to be expressing. Sometimes, his irises tighten up slightly and he looks sort of like he’s mindlessly terrified, which unfortunately is not the effect he was going for at those times.

Duckie has evidently known Andie for a very long time, and he is hopelessly in love with her. He pretty much follows her everywhere she goes, calls her constantly, and hangs on her every word. He tends to be overly effusive, and almost never approaches any situation seriously. Jon Cryer is very cute, in my opinion. He reminds me of a cross between Matthew Broderick (in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, not in Election or You Can Count on Me) and John Leguizamo. I don’t get why Andie wouldn’t have at least fooled around with him, but that’s just me. Although, I do have to say that he strikes me as a little bit fey, and I think that it comes from John Cryer’s performance rather than the writing.

Steff is the personification of conceited, irresponsible wealth and the misuse thereof. His family is as rich as Blane’s, but he lacks any form of social responsibility. He believes that rich people are inherently better than poor people, and he has taken it upon himself to ensure that nobody from the lower class thinks for even a moment that he or she might be as good as him or his peers. He’s a manipulative creep who clearly doesn’t even care at all about the people that he calls his friends. James Spader is fairly good-looking and entirely loathsome. He brought an utterly revolting vibe to the character and really made me want to jump into my television screen and throttle him. In this case, that’s a good thing.

Iona is (I’m guessing here) about fifteen years older than Andie, but she is one of her closest friends. She owns the record store (“Trax”) where Andie works after school, and she serves as a sort of surrogate mother to her. Because she has more life experience, she is able to give Andie good advice, but they are close enough in age that Andie feels very comfortable talking to her. Annie Potts is very good in this role. First of all, she’s adorable. Secondly, she has this awesome quirky voice that reminds me a little bit of Cyndi Lauper. Also, she just exudes this fantastic attitude that works so incredibly well. Plus she is given a lot of great lines to work with.

And then there’s Jack Walsh. Andie’s middle-aged father is the center of her world. Ever since his wife left the family, Jack has been despondent and unmotivated. He is unemployed, and doesn’t seem to be interested in doing anything about it. He doesn’t even get up in the morning unless Andie practically drags him out of bed. He hasn’t successfully dealt with his wife’s departure, and he can’t bring himself to move on with his life. Harry Dean Stanton makes the character very sympathetic. He makes it clear that Jack cares very much about Andie, but he just isn’t capable of being the strong parental figure that Andie needs in her life.

There are a large number of minor performers in the movie who also work well with the flow of the story and with the other actors. Alexa Kenin, as Andie’s friend Jena, brings an awesome in-your-face attitude. Andrew Dice Clay appears as the bouncer at the local club. As Benny the bitch-girl, Kate Vernon is utterly despicable. The various teachers and other students at the school also strike me as particularly fitting. In addition, look for Gina Gershon and Kristy Swanson in teeny-tiny non-speaking roles.

I will say that the actors work pretty well together. Their interaction is believable and they all have good chemistry. I believed that the people who liked each other actually liked each other, and the same goes for those who were supposed to hate each other. The problems with character interaction come from the script. For example, Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy had a noticeable chemistry. However, the script fails to adequately support the romance between them. We’re basically expected to accept the entire life cycle of the relationship with scant substantiation from the actual dialogue. Consequently, Blane’s declaration to Andie, about four minutes from the end of the movie, seems to come out of left field. This is also where Blane’s aforementioned pussiness comes into the equation. Steff and Blane have a scene where the former basically spouts his elitist bullshit for several minutes, essentially exuding evil creepiness for the entire duration of the speech, and yet somehow manages to coerce Blane into acting against his own feelings in the interest of retaining the supposed friendship of this reprehensible person. At another point, Andie fails to be suspicious of her father when he is very obviously lying to her. In addition, an intriguing development between Duckie and Iona is left completely unexplored. More than anything else, it is definitely the writing that brings this movie down from a potentially higher rating.

Another big failing of the script is this sense of über-class-consciousness that everyone in town seems to have. I mean, I grew up in Livingston, NJ, which is full of plenty of materialistic, Jappy (I’m Jewish, so I can use that word.) families where the fathers are lawyers, doctors, and dentists. And then on the other hand there are parts of town that are not as well-off (Granted, the difference is not as dramatic as between the classes in the town in which Pretty in Pink is set.), and all the kids go to the same high school together. And you know what? There is virtually no class issue. But in this movie, we’re expected to believe that this town has a more rigorous caste system than India. I’m sorry, but I just didn’t buy it.

Oh, all right. The script has one or two strong moments. The scene with Andie and her school’s principal, though heavy-handed, plays well. The history class and gym class are scenes are also quite good. One of my favorite bits of dialogue is when Andie and Blane argue about taking her home. Andie’s pride initially prevents her from explaining what she is feeling, and this alienates Blane. The scene towards the end, with Andie and her father, also rings true, as does the subsequent scene between Andie and Blane. These scenes also demonstrate that Molly Ringwald is definitely the best performer in the movie. Basically, these writers are pretty good at dialogue, it’s just that they don’t write a lot of the dialogue that they should, and things are instead left unsaid and unexplained.

Oh, and one other dialogue thing. When Andie confronts Blane, he tries to put off the topic at hand. But Andie shouts, “No! What about prom?!” The tone and cadence reminds me very much of when Judd Nelson says in The Breakfast Club, “No, Dad, what about you?!” Just thought I’d mention it.

There are definitely anvils here. That, incidentally, is a term that I picked up from www.televisionwithoutpity.com, which I reviewed some time ago under its former name of www.mightybigtv.com. I really should go and update that, I guess. Anyway, what it refers to is when some aspect of a television show or movie is extraordinarily heavy-handed with a message, or noticeably lacking in subtlety with regards to an aspect of the character or storyline development. One of the big ones would have to be Duckie’s and Jack’s shared fear of progress. Also check out the movie’s opening, establishing shot, which clearly demonstrates that the Walshes live on the “wrong side of the tracks,” and nearly on top of them to boot.

The costuming in this movie is interesting. The opening sequence shows Andie putting on her outfit for the day, with interesting (but chaste) shots of various parts of her body as she does so. It makes her look quite alluring, which is commendable because a wide shot during the gym class scene reveals that her legs are lumpy and gross. I mean, seriously, they are so lumpy! One of the plot elements is the fact that Andie makes her own clothing. However, the wardrobe people don’t give her very much credit. In the first sequence of the movie, an otherwise acceptable (though slightly grandmotherly) ensemble is spoiled by a ridiculous hat and a pair of overly bookish glasses. Later, Andie takes two perfectly fine dresses and tailors them together to make a prom dress for herself. I really wish that the result would have been a spectacular evening gown that demonstrated flair and exceptional talent. What we get instead is extremely underwhelming. While I can appreciate what they were going for with the neckline, the body of the dress just hangs shapelessly on Molly Ringwald, utterly concealing any semblance of a figure that she might have. It’s about as becoming as a burlap sack.

The true fashion showcase of the movie is definitely Annie Potts. When we first see her, the front of her hair is in wire-thin spikes with a huge ponytail in back, and she is wearing a great vinyl ensemble in black with matching earrings. Later, we see her with a cute 㣌s style hat and a dramatic hourglass-shaped skirt. She also looks great in a platinum blonde wig and a black and white dress, with Egyptian-style makeup that elongates her eyes. She even looks great in an absurd bouffant! As for other fashion moments, few are exceptional. Still, Duckie’s eclectic style is interesting, and he does look good in a tux. And the girls look cute in their gym uniforms. Steff always wears shirts that are half-open, but I’m not sure why. Oh, and it’s hard not to notice the girl with the gold hairband.

The music, on the other hand, pretty much sucks. The title song, “Pretty in Pink” by Psychedelic Furs, which plays during the opening habiliment, is slightly catchy, however it is inappropriate for several reasons. Firstly, the vocalist is trying to sound edgy when the song’s musical tone is very upbeat. That in turn is strange because the song’s lyrics are totally not upbeat. During that opening sequence, they only play the first verse, the meaning of which is vague. However, if you listen to the whole song as played during the closing credits, you will discover that the song is about a totally slutty chick, Caroline, who does it with every guy in sight, and then they all promptly forget all about her, except for how pretty she looked in pink. The performers at Kats, the nightclub frequented by Andie and her friends, are rather prominently featured in several scenes. I think they are called “The Rave-Ups.” Tragically, though, they suck. Long. And hard. And not in the good way. Plenty of other obscure but stereotypically 㣴s-sounding “tunes” (And I use the word loosely.) fill a variety of scenes. With that coming from me, a nearly psychotic fan of most 㣴s music, you have to know that the soundtrack is crap, right?

There were a very few pieces of music that I actually liked in the movie. The instrumental piece that plays right before the confrontation at school between Andie and Blane definitely contributes to the tone of the scene. I will call it, “The Harpsichords of Andie’s Angst.” The “Synth Sounds of the Approaching Prom” were also decent. I enjoyed Duckie’s frenetic lip-sync as well as Iona’s little Barry Manilow singalong. Also, OMD’s “If You Leave” plays for eight glorious minutes, the last eight of the film. Damn, that’s a good song.

The cinematography is very good. Like I mentioned earlier, Andie’s morning montage at the beginning of the film is particularly well filmed. The many scenes that show people walking, standing, and talking in hallways at school tend to focus on people in ways that create exactly the right tone. The final shot is perfect. The film as a whole is slightly grainy, which I think is intentional rather than a result of poor tape quality. It gives the movie sort of a rawer feel, like everything is closer to the surface. Hey, this paragraph is short. So, let me tack on a comment about continuity. At one point, Andie tells Blane to pick her up from work, at the mall. But Trax is on a street corner!

I have to say, the movie is slightly dated. First of all, should I have any idea who either Steve Lawrence or Walter Mondale are? Because I don’t, but they’re both mentioned. At one point, Andie closes a door at Trax to reveal posters of four young guys. They’re hella cute, especially the two on the left, but I have no idea who they are. Duckie talks about being inspired by Tina Turner’s ability to turn her life around, while Andie makes says that Madonna “has got such great style.” ::sigh:: I may have been young, but I remember when that was true. Also, Andie’s telephone answering machine is a clunky thing that’s completely detached from her rotary phone, which has a cord for Chrissakes! (Ack! Why, for the love of God, does MS Word’s spell checker match “Chrissakes” with “Teriyakis?”)

And I really have to ask if Blane could have done that neat trick with the school computers in 1986. It’s early in the movie, so I’ll just tell you what he does, in case you haven’t seen it. Andie is sitting in a classroom, typing, when a text message appears. Then a picture of herself pops up, then it goes wireframe and is replaced by one of Blane. So, let’s assess what resources had to be used. First off, Andie was using some sort of word processor. That’s one of the oldest softwares that were used by consumers, so that’s not a problem. However, this was back when most computers only had a few applications on their hard drives, and more often than not the only available applications were those that were supplied from floppy disks. So if Andie was word processing on the computer, it’s not likely that any other applications would have been available. Now, where did Blane’s text message come from? Well, the two computers must have been networked, for starters. I wonder if that would have been done in 1986? Personally, I doubt it. But if they had been, then I guess it would be possible for Blane to access her file from his computer and edit it remotely. But what about the images? As I said, it is very unlikely that Andie’s or Blane’s computers would have been able to launch a second application while they were word processing. But let’s suppose that one of them was able to do it. Did they even have bitmap files back then? Okay, okay, yes, I know that they did. However, it doesn’t strike me as likely that a school’s computer would have that software installed on it. But, again, supposing that it did, then Blane still needed access to a scanner. I really don’t think they had scanners in 1986. Somebody tell me I’m wrong? On top of all that, the load times for the image files would have been astronomical. Definitely not the instantaneous page loads seen in the movie. Okay, this ends my rant. I was just pointing out that a viewer of the movie today would see that scene very differently from a viewer in 1986.

Finally, I would like to share some details about the VHS tape itself. There are only two things, really. Firstly, the main feature is preceded by a teaser for the movie Some Kind of Wonderful. I’m pretty sure that the music it features is punk rock. Of course I can’t be sure, since I think I was in kindergarten when that was popular. Or maybe it was earlier than that. Anyway, it’s being played by punk-clothes-wearing hands, the bodies attached to which we do not see. What kind of name is Mary Stuart Masterson? It sounds like a nun. The second comment I have with regards to the tape is the poor quality of the closed captions. They are actually the worst pre-prepared closed captions I have seen in my life. In fact, they are worse than most live closed captions, which are traditionally poor. The main dialogue is abridgedly paraphrased to a point where the bulk of the characterization is lost, while virtually all of the background comments go completely unreported.

Well, overall this is a pretty good movie. I mean, it’s not a great film, and it doesn’t convey any great moral lesson (Not that it doesn’t try.), but it’s a pleasant enough diversion.

Secret Subplot (For a complete explanation of Secret Subplots, please see my profile page)
Welcome to the brand-new Secret Subplot feature! In this movie, I have determined that Duckie is secretly gay. However, he has not yet come to grips with this fact, so he overcompensates for his lack of attraction to women by throwing himself at Andie with unrestrained (but artificially manufactured) enthusiasm. The iconization of a female is a common practice among homosexual males. Consider the huge gay followings of Madonna, Barbara Streisand, Cher, and Judy Garland. Now that I say it, it’s obvious, isn’t it?

QF1 (For a complete explanation of QF, please see my profile page.)
Benny calls Blane a faggot for no good reason. I think that they still hadn’t quite figured out the meaning of that word at the time that this movie was made. And Iona makes an offhanded remark about her current boyfriend being heterosexual, and that fact being a plus. This implies that she has perhaps found herself dating homosexuals in the past. And I can tell you, that really sucks. But, in different ways, depending on whether or not you are a homosexual...

This has been the first of my three entries in my own write-off, D2K-93: The Widowmaker, in celebration of my two-year anniversary at Epinions. This is a write-off based on the “Brat Pack” actors of the 1980s, so I have decided to review the three best-known movies that star Molly Ringwald, my personal favorite Brat Pack performer. The other write-off participants are:

anderclayton * DavidK93 * dedemw * kurt_messick * LukePicard * MrsNormanMaine * Officer * pmills1210 * pogomom * sampo24 * st3on1ey1baby

Now I’m going to go polish up my third review, on the ultimate Brat Pack experience. Hopefully, I’ll get it in before midnight Pacific Time, which luckily is 3am where I am.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS