By chance, sat down with teenage daughters and watched a Hughes vehicle, "Pretty in Pink" last night. I had never seen it before, always shying away at the last second from the chick flick suggestive title and opting for another viewing of "Day of the Jackal" or "The Searchers" or something. You know, you've got just so many non-drowsy hours available and I'm typically not going to risk them on something with "Pink" in the title, even if it was written by John Hughes. Well, that changed last evening.
It's a well written story but I think it suffers from some drag by the director and I frankly didn't buy some of the actors chosen for their roles. Molly Ringwold plays the typical John Hughes Molly Ringwold character. Harry Dean Stanton, otherwise a fine character actor, is stilted and unconvincing in the role of her loser father. Jon Cryer tries too hard to be outrageous and, heterosexual. Annie Potts is tiresome trying to be the outrageous bohemian friend of Ringwold. Andrew McCarthy is credible but doesn't' have the chops to be a solid lead actor. That said, it's worth seeing just for watching James Spader play the nasty rich guy friend of McCarthy in one of his typically vicious, satisfying roles. Watch it and if you like him in this, you'll love him in "Less than Zero" which also includes McCarthy. All in all, "Pretty in Pink" is worth seeing but it is a much lesser Hughes vehicle than "Ferris," or "Plains/Trains" or most certainly, "Sixteen Candles." Oh, the title song, "Pretty in Pink" by the Psychedelic Furs is outstanding. There it is, your film review for the day.
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