Blu-ray Review: Sixteen Candles

Sixteen Candles is a movie that I loved during my childhood (I was twelve when it was released) and whose appeal has not lessened one bit in the intervening decades. It is also a movie that I think would not get made today, as some of its subject matter would be considered too risqué or offensive in our current, perhaps overly sensitive climate. Yet it is a sweet and beautiful and hilarious film about a girl turning sixteen and her family forgetting her birthday. Arrow Video has now released a special edition Blu-ray version of the film, with a whole lot of new bonus material. For those of us who grew up watching Sixteen Candles, this is a great opportunity to revisit it. And for those who haven’t seen it, now is the perfect time to fall in love with it. I hope this release will find its way to the teenagers who may need it as they make their way through those awkward and crazy high school years. Two versions of the film are included on this disc – the original theatrical version and an extended version. The extended version has one extra scene and is approximately two minutes longer than the theatrical version.

The movie opens on the morning of Samantha Baker’s sixteenth birthday, and the day before her sister’s wedding. Samantha (Molly Ringwald) is expecting a magical day – or at least a halfway decent day – but things begin to go wrong when in the craziness leading to the wedding, her family completely forgets her birthday. Things get worse for Samantha when a note she intended for her friend is intercepted by Jake Ryan, the hunk she has a crush on, and when a geek attaches himself to her, even at one point asking to borrow her underwear. Her house is overrun by relatives in for the wedding, as well as a foreign exchange student named Long Duk Dong. This is a film that reminds us of our first loves and of the horrors of riding the school bus. “There has to be a more dignified mode of transportation,” Samantha says. This movie has a great cast that includes, in addition to Molly Ringwald (who is absolutely adorable and fantastic), Paul Dooley, Max Showalter, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Justin Henry, Gedde Watanabe, Blanche Baker, Deborah Pollack, Jami Gertz, Zelda Rubinstein (from Poltergeist), and of course Anthony Michael Hall as The Geek. And it has some excellent music, including “Happy Birthday” by Altered Images, “If You Were Here” by The Thompson Twins, and The Stray Cats’ rendition of “Sixteen Candles.”

There are so many nice little touches, like the parents who have to force their goofy son into the gymnasium for the school dance, and the way Long Duk Dong holds his utensils upside down and uses them as chopsticks. And that simple but hilarious moment when Joan Cusack has trouble getting water from the drinking fountain. Or how Ginny, doped up for her wedding, attempts to eat the rice that is tossed at her. And for those of us who grew up in the 1980s, we get the chance to enjoy the set dressing, which includes a Culture Club poster, a Squeeze poster, and a Heather Thomas poster (I had that Heather Thomas poster on my wall), as well as a cassette of Talking Heads’ Fear Of Music unspooling after a party. But of course, what makes this film special is the honesty and heart with which it portrays its characters.

Special Features

This Blu-ray disc contains a lot of bonus material. The extra scene that is included in the extended version is also presented on its own as a deleted scene. And while I mentioned that this disc contains two versions of the film, it actually contains three. The original video release for Sixteen Candles contained different songs, and this Blu-ray disc includes that version of the film too, which is pretty cool.

Casting Sixteen Candles is an interview with casting director Jackie Burch, who says that John Hughes wrote the film with Molly Ringwald in mind. This interview is approximately nine minutes. When Gedde Met Deborah is a conversation with actors Gedde Watanabe and Deborah Pollack, who talk about their roles and tell some funny anecdotes, including about the stationary bike and some cut scenes. This featurette is approximately nineteen and a half minutes. Rudy The Bohunk is an interview with actor John Kapelos, who talks about his audition, his character, and about John Hughes. This is approximately six and a half minutes. The New Wave Nerd is an interview with Adam Rifkin, who worked as an extra in the film. Here he talks about his experiences on set, and reveals that he still has the glasses that he wore in the movie. This is approximately eight minutes. The In-Between is an interview with camera operator Gary Kibbe, who talks about his job and about how tough it is to move from operator to DP. This interview is approximately seven and a half minutes. Music For Geeks is an interview with composer Ira Newborn, who talks about the troubles of using music during dialogue. And, yes, he does talk about that great musical moment near the end when the doo-wop vocalists basically support the Geek’s dialogue. This is one of my personal favorite special features, and is approximately eight minutes.

A Very Eighties Fairytale is a featurette written and narrated by Soraya Roberts, who takes a feminist look at the film and the work of John Hughes. This is approximately seventeen minutes. Celebrating Sixteen Candles is a featurette that was produced for an earlier DVD release of the film, and includes interviews with Anthony Michael Hall, Paul Dooley, Justin Henry, Haviland Morris, Blanche Baker, John Kapelos and Gedde Watanabe. The cast members tell anecdotes about different scenes. Also interviewed for this featurette is Diablo Cody, who talks about the influence of the film. This is a totally enjoyable featurette about why we all love this film. It is approximately thirty-eight minutes.

The special features include three trailers, two television spots and eighteen radio spots. The screenplay is also included, presented as a photo gallery. In addition, there are two other photo galleries, one of production stills and one of poster and video art.

Sixteen Candles was written and directed by John Hughes. This special Blu-ray edition was released on April 14, 2020 through Arrow Video.