In "Sixteen Candles" (1984) we’re supposed to believe that Mollie Ringwald’s Samantha Baker pouts her way through the movie because no one in the family remembers her birthday. I don't think so. It has to be because she can’t wait to get away from the most obnoxious collection of supporting  characters ever – gaseous grandpa, selfish sister, eccentric exchange student , unctuous underclassman and the bothersome brother-in-law known as the "oily bohunk."  "Oily bohunk?" Was that even funny in the '80s? 

These annoying characters show up in almost every scene, and that's what costs this film a star in my eyes. Like Sam, we can't wait to get away from the supporting cast. Please, Jake, (Michael Schoeffling) take us, too. 

Nevertheless, despite the sometimes stereotyped and unpleasant characters, "Sixteen Candles" has the classic John Hughes feel. You have to see it – '80s hair and all – to get it. Hughes understood what makes a teen - or any of us - feel like an outcast and he knew how to translate it to film. There doesn't seem to be a kid in Hughes' universe that has it easy.  Even the popular kids have problems. You see that in "Sixteen Candles" and it was laid if full out a year later in "The Breakfast Club."