"Pretty In Pink" features a winning lead performance, but it's undermined by an awful supporting character that caused the film to be a muddle.
The plot: in a socially divided high school, pretty but poor girl "Andie" (Molly Ringwald) falls for rich boy "Blane" (Andrew McCarthy) much to the consternation of her best friend "Duckie" (Jon Cryer) who wants to be more than just friends. Blane asks Andie to the prom. Andie is over-the-moon and Duckie is crestfallen. However, Blane gets cold-feet when his snake-in-the-grass "friend," "Steff" (James Spader), tells him that Andie's low income status makes her an unfit girlfriend, but in reality he's just jealous because Andie rejected him. Spineless Blane wilts under the pressure and jilts Andie. Heartbroken yet defiant, she attends the prom by herself in a homemade pink dress.
There she's met by her true Prince Charming and one whom she should have recognized as such long ago- Duckie. They join hands on the dance floor and kiss passionately turning their platonic relationship into a romantic one as OMD's "If You Leave" plays while the credits roll.
Wait. That's not how "Pretty in Pink" ends! Well, that's how it was intended to end and how it was initially filmed. Yet, preview audiences hated that ending. They just could not abide Andie ending-up with Duckie. Panicked the studio ordered a redo of the ending. So, it was reshot on the fly with Andrew McCarthy wearing a wig because he had cut-off his "Blane" hairdo for another role. So, Blane quickly apologizes for being a gutless weasel, Andie quickly and inexplicably accepts that apology, and Duckie is quickly kicked into the friendzone presumably for good. That slap-dash ending just makes a muddle of the entire film, but still it's better than Andie ending-up with Duckie.
What went wrong? Well, the character of Duckie went wrong. Poorly written, directed and acted. It was intended for the audience to go: "Oh, poor Duckie! He's just so sweet, funny, and quirky. He's so nice to Andie and loves her so much. How could she not know?" Yet, that's not how it worked in execution. Instead Duckie comes across as an obnoxious dweeb and one of the most of irritating and annoying in film history. An example: Duckie's extended lip-sync and dance sequence to Otis Reading's "Try a Little Tenderness" was supposed to make him endearing, but what audiences really wanted to do was to hit him with a shovel to make him stop that cringe-embarrassing scene. And when Duckie doesn't act like an obnoxious dweeb? Then he's a petulant jerk- a seething ball of envy and resentment who can't stand to see a friend happy if it doesn't involve him. He's Steff except without the Miami Vice wardrobe and James Spader's sneer. In 21st century parlance, Duckie is a "Nice Guy." Like many so-called "Nice Guys," he isn't very nice. The creators failed to understand that just because Duckie was "nice" didn't mean he was entitled to Andie's romantic affections. That's why the character failed so miserably and why the original ending didn't work.
As annoying and awful as Duckie is, "Pretty in Pink" does have some commendable stuff. First is Molly Ringwald. For a few years in the mid-80's, Miss Ringwald was America's sweetheart and this movie made at the pinnacle of that popularity shows why. Her Andie is endearing and quite fetching. The film features nice performances by Harry Dean Stanton as Andie's heartbroken dad and Annie Potts as her oh-so-quirky-but-oh-so-gorgeous boss. Also, James Spader was typecast for years as unctuous, back-stabbing creeps because of his memorable performance in this film. Plus, the whole 80's vibe of the film is quite nostalgic- ex: Andie works in a record shop!
Writer John Hughes was apparently chastened by how "Pretty in Pink" had to do a reshoot. So, when he remade "Pretty in Pink" as "Some Kind of Wonderful" a year later, he made sure that the female version of Duckie in that film (Mary Stuart Masterson's character) wasn't so obnoxious that audiences would be repelled by her getting with her friend (Eric Stoltz in the Andie role) at film's end. Thus, "Some Kind of Wonderful" retains the ending that was intended for "Pretty in Pink."
The plot: in a socially divided high school, pretty but poor girl "Andie" (Molly Ringwald) falls for rich boy "Blane" (Andrew McCarthy) much to the consternation of her best friend "Duckie" (Jon Cryer) who wants to be more than just friends. Blane asks Andie to the prom. Andie is over-the-moon and Duckie is crestfallen. However, Blane gets cold-feet when his snake-in-the-grass "friend," "Steff" (James Spader), tells him that Andie's low income status makes her an unfit girlfriend, but in reality he's just jealous because Andie rejected him. Spineless Blane wilts under the pressure and jilts Andie. Heartbroken yet defiant, she attends the prom by herself in a homemade pink dress.
There she's met by her true Prince Charming and one whom she should have recognized as such long ago- Duckie. They join hands on the dance floor and kiss passionately turning their platonic relationship into a romantic one as OMD's "If You Leave" plays while the credits roll.
Wait. That's not how "Pretty in Pink" ends! Well, that's how it was intended to end and how it was initially filmed. Yet, preview audiences hated that ending. They just could not abide Andie ending-up with Duckie. Panicked the studio ordered a redo of the ending. So, it was reshot on the fly with Andrew McCarthy wearing a wig because he had cut-off his "Blane" hairdo for another role. So, Blane quickly apologizes for being a gutless weasel, Andie quickly and inexplicably accepts that apology, and Duckie is quickly kicked into the friendzone presumably for good. That slap-dash ending just makes a muddle of the entire film, but still it's better than Andie ending-up with Duckie.
What went wrong? Well, the character of Duckie went wrong. Poorly written, directed and acted. It was intended for the audience to go: "Oh, poor Duckie! He's just so sweet, funny, and quirky. He's so nice to Andie and loves her so much. How could she not know?" Yet, that's not how it worked in execution. Instead Duckie comes across as an obnoxious dweeb and one of the most of irritating and annoying in film history. An example: Duckie's extended lip-sync and dance sequence to Otis Reading's "Try a Little Tenderness" was supposed to make him endearing, but what audiences really wanted to do was to hit him with a shovel to make him stop that cringe-embarrassing scene. And when Duckie doesn't act like an obnoxious dweeb? Then he's a petulant jerk- a seething ball of envy and resentment who can't stand to see a friend happy if it doesn't involve him. He's Steff except without the Miami Vice wardrobe and James Spader's sneer. In 21st century parlance, Duckie is a "Nice Guy." Like many so-called "Nice Guys," he isn't very nice. The creators failed to understand that just because Duckie was "nice" didn't mean he was entitled to Andie's romantic affections. That's why the character failed so miserably and why the original ending didn't work.
As annoying and awful as Duckie is, "Pretty in Pink" does have some commendable stuff. First is Molly Ringwald. For a few years in the mid-80's, Miss Ringwald was America's sweetheart and this movie made at the pinnacle of that popularity shows why. Her Andie is endearing and quite fetching. The film features nice performances by Harry Dean Stanton as Andie's heartbroken dad and Annie Potts as her oh-so-quirky-but-oh-so-gorgeous boss. Also, James Spader was typecast for years as unctuous, back-stabbing creeps because of his memorable performance in this film. Plus, the whole 80's vibe of the film is quite nostalgic- ex: Andie works in a record shop!
Writer John Hughes was apparently chastened by how "Pretty in Pink" had to do a reshoot. So, when he remade "Pretty in Pink" as "Some Kind of Wonderful" a year later, he made sure that the female version of Duckie in that film (Mary Stuart Masterson's character) wasn't so obnoxious that audiences would be repelled by her getting with her friend (Eric Stoltz in the Andie role) at film's end. Thus, "Some Kind of Wonderful" retains the ending that was intended for "Pretty in Pink."