Watching it at 14 then at 45 yrs old

As a middle-aged parent, I had a lot of the same thoughts, especially about the dad letting Sam leave the wedding with Jake like that.

Also, if Jake was my son and he and his friends trashed my house like that, he'd still be grounded today.

The whole premise doesn't really make sense to anyone who has planned a wedding. Didn't it occur to the parents when they were looking at wedding dates that it was the day after Sam's 16th birthday? Or did they forget then, too?

Read more here: (caution- spoiler alerts for movies you've probably seen 100 times before) http://mosswebpro.com/dsbs/?p=96



"It's social...demented and sad, but social."

I like this well-written post. My older brother also feel same way. Quite analogous to what you are saying, born in same decade than you, and a younger of mine born in first few years of the early eighties,say Molly Ringwald was much cooler,and prettier than the Tall Lady, the blonde chick who had"jake prior to her."So i like reading some men like that who
sound as they do. (Or some women) I agree too.

I think Jake always wanted someone like her,just didn't "apply such wise thought to the "better woman, until later."I love this movie. I like him with Molly character best.

Great post, especially of your "new" view of Samantha. 41 yr old Dad is writing this.

I've got about 5 years on you, but I feel exactly the same about Samantha as you, in both time frames. She's definitely the all-around prettier girl.

As for the house being destroyed from the party, I've never seen anything close to that in all the parties I went to. However, I went to school with someone who, according to the story I heard, threw a party while his parents were out of town. Someone at the party got careless somehow and the house burned to the ground. Rather than facing his father and the consequences, he took a shotgun and killed himself. Very sad indeed, and he wasn't a bad kid. I guess the fear of his father was just too much for him. Point is, I doubt that's the only time a house was destroyed by a party.

Well, I do recall a few absolutely crazy house parties back in the 80s. I played in a rock band back then when I was 17 so we got invited to play at them. Always some well-to-do football player type throwing them. Once in a while the cops would get called on us and people would scatter, leaving beer bottles everywhere. The cops wouldn't arrest you, they'd just make you pour it out and steal the unopened ones. Being in the band meant they left us alone after telling us to switch off and go home.

None of the houses were ever as trashed as the one in this movie, but definitely damage was done. Obviously this movie's party, like the one in Weird Science, is exaggerated for comedic effect.

As a long-hair metalhead nerd I always thought Molly Ringwold was more attractive than Cheerleader Blonde Chick. And in Breakfast Club Ally Sheedy was the hot one as far as I was concerned.

I lived this experience in different aspects. To this day I see the so called " preppy / jock" from my school and some aged well..some aged very badly.. And some never aged at all. The ugly got good looking and the fat got skinny. And vice versa. Simply the best times growing up.

I was 11 when this came out and almost 43 now, sorry but I disagree, I love this movie but never thought Samantha attractive then or now and Caroline is still the more attractive one. I get your point on all the other stuff though.

Well I am not 45, but have a young daughter. But I am not sure much has changed regarding my thoughts from when I first saw this film when I was not even a teenager.

You might pick Samantha over Caroline now, but there is no way that would have been the case in high school. High school in the 80s and 90s pretty much everyone cared deeply about their popularity. In my high school there was not one unpopular kid who was not dying to hang out with the popular kids. I saw girls drop their close friends to hang out in a more popular clique. It was not that much more different for the guys. I was not the most popular kid in my high school, but I was part of the popular jock clique. You should have seen this one kids eyes light up when I invited him to hang out with us one night. That one scene in the film "Perks of Being a Wallflower," where Charlie's own sister will not sit with him in the cafeteria sums up high school life on the 80s and 90s, your popularity was your priority #1. There is not one guy I know who would have broken up with the hottest girl in school to go out with Samantha.

What I did realize about the party scene, which I did not get when I first watched the film, was Jake has absentee parents and is on his own. His father is clearly a successful businessman, has a huge house, drives a Rolls Royce, bought his son a Porsche 944, has a car phone, the wine cellar, expensive artwork, etc. But it seems to me he is never home. I believe Jake says Caroline has gotten his house trashed before. So while he is angry at Caroline, it seems to be more because he disrespected him than the fact that his house got trashed. Seems like his parents are away on vacation somewhere, or out of town on business, and he knows the maid will clean everything up and he can use daddy's credit card to pay for everything else. It is sad, I have a few friends who grew up in a similar circumstance.

While I would not give my daughter the OK sign. You have to remember 1) they forget Samantha's birthday 2) her sister was marrying some low class guy who the family did not like 3) the father knew Samantha was more responsible and would only go out with someone who treats her well.