TIMEWARP! Deepayan reviews “Pretty in Pink”
Author: Sterling Heltzel | Filed under: Uncategorized
by Deepayan Sengupta
In honour of the theatrical release of the horrendous-looking I Love You, Beth Cooper, I decided to go back to a simpler time, a time when a romantic movie could be made that wasn’t all cleavage shots and lame jokes; the 80s. Specifically, I decided, instead of subjecting myself to this cinematic excuse to ogle Panettiere (because the Heroes lesbian subplot story that Postavant reported on a few days ago will provide enough opportunity for said ogling, and for free) to visit an 80s classic romantic movie, namely Pretty in Pink.
Pretty in Pink is one of the crop of 80s movies in which John Hughes was involved as writer and producer. He’s credited with many gems from the era, including this one, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Uncle Buck, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, among others. Molly Ringwald, a familiar face to Hughes fans, plays Andie, a poor girl of a single father in a school full of rich preppy kids. Blane, played by Andrew McCarthy, is her primary love interest, a rich kid who’s pressured more into acting in accordance with his wealth rather than his true feelings.
A host of secondary characters populate the landscape of this particular story, chief among whom is Duckie Dale, Andie’s best friend, played surprisingly ably by Jon Cryer. Duckie can best be described as a poor man’s Ferris Bueller; the similarities are definitely there, and too blatant to be coincidental, complete with a starkly similar fashion sense, a desire for attention (which Ferris gets from his entire school, but Duckie only gets from Andie, which is partially the reason she’s the focus of his world) and a penchant for breaking into dance, as Duckie does in a memorable scene, accompanied by Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness. If Bueller were a little less adept at smooth talking and a little less confident in himself, he’d be Duckie Dale. James Spader in the role of Steff, a preppy rich kid who’s Blane’s best friend, and Annie Potts in the role of Iona, Andie’s other friend, round out the main secondary characters.
Duckie pines for Andie, feelings that are not reciprocated by Andie, as is made painfully clear in several scenes. To further complicate manners, Andie’s father, Jack, still pines for his wife, Andie’s mother, who walked out on the family nearly 4 years ago. The mother’s physical absence and the father’s emotional absence force Andie to grow up and mature at a much faster pace than ordinary. While this does, on paper, sound like a clichéd role that could’ve been played solely for waterworks, Harry Dean Stanton injects a level of believability and genuine empathy into the character of Jack.
I must admit, I had some issues with the movie. Chief among them was the fact that the characters of Blane and Andie, while being believable characters, were not relatable characters, for me atleast. In fact, without the presence of Duckie, this movie would’ve come dangerously close to becoming something I watch purely for cinematic value, rather than for emotional value, which is a major shortcoming for a teen romance. Duckie, both in his puppy dog love manners and his constant attempts to be cool by being different, however, provided a conduit through which I could relate to these people, in reference to him, which ultimately may have been the point of his character all along.
However, ultimately, I did like this movie, because it had something a lot of modern romantic movies lack; heart. The characters, however much I didn’t identify with them, I empathised with, and that’s what made this movie for me. That, and the fact that the female lead was defined by more than her relationship; It was smart on the part of whoever made the call, be it Hughes or director Howard Deutch, to focus on the female instead of the male, as so often tends to happen in such movies. This does lead to some shortcomings, such as the audience never fully realising or understanding Blane’s motivations for not believing in himself (apart from his conversations with Steff) but, ultimately in the larger scheme of the movie, it works. Of course, it also partially works because it allows every guy who has ever been insecure about their girlfriends to put themselves in Blane’s shoes. We don’t learn about Blane’s issue because we know about Blane’s issue; Blane’s issue is our issue, is the issue every guy has ever had where he’s given up on a girl not because of how he felt, but because of how he thought others would feel. Ultimately, when Blane says his now-iconic line, we understand more because we’ve been shown less, paradoxically.
But the presence of a three-dimensional female lead does aid matters. Molly Ringwald was, of course, pitch-perfect for the role, because she really does have the quintesential girl-next-door looks, and Hughes was smart enough to never try to pass her off as anything otherwise (unlike, say, everyone’s favourite horse face, Sarah Jessica Parker). That makes her story more believable, both to guys and girls, because she’s good-looking enough that guys would compete for her affections in any given high school, but she’s not stratospherically beautiful enough to turn off women. This also forces her characters to have viable personalities to complement said looks, thereby increasing her charm, and it is to her credit that she pulls that off.
Another strength of the movie comes from the fact that Blane isn’t a douchebag, but is actually a pretty likeable guy, by and large. A common trap that most romances fall into, intentionally or otherwise, is to make one of the male leads a socially inept individual that no woman with an iota of self-respect would go out on a second date with. Occasionally, all male characters in a romance will be raging idiots; however, Pretty in Pink smartly steers away from this stereotype, thereby ensuring that instead of drawing clear lines indicating who is good and bad in black and white, it presents characters and lets the audience decide whom to root for. Which is not to say there aren’t raging douchebags in the movie, most notably Steff; it’s just that the movie presents them as characters Andie stays away from. Blane and Duckie are both likeable characters, thereby allowing the audience to decide between them, rather than telling the audience who’s good and who’s bad.
There are a lot of stories that interweave through this movie, and at first glance it seems that the story is really about Blane and Andie, and how they end up together. Upon closer inspection, though, the real story that this movie tells is the story of Duckie and Andie’s failed relationship. Plenty of evidence is dropped to indicate this, chief among them the parallels between Duckie and Jack, Andie’s dad, both of whom suffer from unrequited love, and the focus on Duckie for large parts of the movie, despite his part as a supposed secondary character. Seeing the movie with this in mind gives a new perspective; rather than it being a simple teen romance tale, Pretty in Pink reveals itself to be a coming of age tale, a story where a woman comes to terms with herself, choosing not to become like her deadbeat mother and instead charting her own path in life. It’s done in a fascinating manner, because while the audience is tempted to root for Duckie’s love to win out, I thought the end, despite its surface, was actually one that was kinder to Duckie. Particularly telling is the scene, mentioned earlier, where Duckie puts on a show to Try a little Tenderness; look closely at Andie during that scene. Molly Ringwald plays her with a mixture of disgust, puzzlement, and general weirded-out ness, none of which are ingredients for a healthy relationship. Had Duckie and Andie ended up together, there’s no doubt that the relationship would’ve ended in much the same way that Andie’s parents’ relationship ended. Seeing the effect that left on Jack, it’s a fate nobody would wish on anyone, least of all Duckie, who’s an enjoyable character that you hope does find true happiness.
To close out, this is actually a very good movie, and surprisingly layered, which makes it a deeper movie than it first seems. Hughes did seem to have a penchant for creating somewhat believable characters, instead of broad caricatures, and the lasting appeal of his movies is a testament to how relatable they were (I say did because, well, let’s just say you don’t want to see what movies he’s been credited with lately). Add in some heart, and a uniquely enjoyable character in the form of Duckie (despite his similarities to Ferris Bueller, the situation and differences are enough to enjoy Duckie as an individual separate from Bueller) and you can see why this movie continues to be as highly regarded as it is. Definitely worth a watch; but then again, you knew that. You believe in this movie, you always have; you just didn’t believe in yourself.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Tags: Beth Cooper, Duckie Dale, Hayden Panettiere, I Love You Beth Cooper, John Hughes, Pretty in Pink
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