When I sat down to watch this I thought I might dislike it because I don't usually like romantic comedy type films, but I thought it's sometimes good to watch things out my comfort zone and it had good recommendations from you lot, so I thought I'd give it a go, and in some ways I was really pleasantly surprised. Firstly, Andie. I absolutely adored her. I loved that she makes her own clothes :laugh: (I went through a phase at uni where I did the same thing lol :shame:), and I love that she's 18 but dresses like she's 60! I kind of wonder if that was an allegory (if that's the right word?) for her maturity (get me using proper 'reviewer' type words :hee:)
Andie's dad and Iona were also great characters. I didn't care about Blane, or his and Andie's relationship, I didn't find him likeable or interesting to watch. I also didn't care much about Duckie. He was too much of a 'stock movie character' if that makes sense, 2-Dimensional, and I felt like the movie was really pushing to have me feel sorry for him because of his infatuation with Andie, but I just didn't care. It wasn't that I disliked him or anything, I just felt like he was there for the sake of it, and he had lots of fun/quirky surface characteristics, but no depth to make me see him as anything other than a prop. Normally I wouldn't care to much about things like that but my enjoyment of this movie rested on the relationships and the depth of the characters because a romance storyline really isn't enough for me to enjoy a film.
Andie's dad on the other hand I found extremely watchable. His and Andie's relationship was my favourite thing about this movie. Had the central focus been about them and their relationship, and had his character been developed more (as well as the history of the mother expanded on) I would have absolutely loved that. I felt like there was so much potential there that was pushed to the side in favour of the romantic storyline which didn't interest me.
I suppose this was my biggest issue watching the movie, that although there were some great elements that I appreciated, I was kind of frustrated watching it because the elements that I enjoyed the most were generally sidelined to the bits that I had no (or very little) interest in. It touched on a lot of really interesting things such as social status, the mother walking out on her husband and child, the fathers apathy towards work, and Andie's strength as a person and resilience. And yet the central plotline seemed to just be 'will she go to the prom?'
I wasn't keen on the ending. I didn't like that she went running after Blane. I thought he was a jerk (yes he apologised to her but am I meant to believe that he's suddenly changed his whole perspective on class and status because of Andie when he's only known her 5 minutes and there's been no development to him?) and I kind of hoped that when Duckie told Andie that she should go after Blane, she would say something fiercely independent and be like '**** him', basically, and have it end with the two of them (Duckie and Andie) as friends, at the prom, without having or needing romantic interests to complete them.
Molly Ringwald's performance was fantastic though, she was extremely watchable. Had it been a different actress in that role (and had my watch not been because of the movie club lol) I don't think I would have finished it tbh. For what it was, I'm sure it was a brilliant film, but I give it 6/10 based on my own personal taste. I would definitely recommend it to other people who enjoy films like this though.
