Pretty in Pink

[teresafloyd]

At least two people have told me in that last few weeks that I really should watch Pretty in Pink, so today I did.

I do not get the appeal. It's so fluffy and pointless.

The only characters I care about are the girl's father and co-worker. I would have enjoyed watching their stories. Why is he unemployed? How do they live? Did his wife leave him over his drinking? What's up with the co-worker's love life?

Maybe I would have enjoyed it when I was in high school in about 1981 or so, but watching it today and remembering who my friends and I were back in the 80 there is no one with whom I can identify, except maybe Duckie.

Even the supposedly "poor" girl seems to have a minimum wage job with little responsibility and full time use of a car. Things I couldn't even aspire to until I was well out of high school.

I don't get how this is a cult classic, unless it's nostalgia for a life that I never had.

"Pretty in Pink (3/7) Movie CLIP - Andie Confronts Her Father (1986) HD" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[wednes]

I saw this one as a kid and liked it a lot. For me, the draw was seeing friends who claimed to be unique and non-conformist, while being openly hostile to someone who wasn't from their clique. Young James Spader as a complete prick was fun to watch. And yeah, Annie Potts is always just great. The scene where she emerges for her date in typical 80s fashion must be especially funny now. When the movie opened, that outfit was indicative of her "going straight" or conformist, rather than the zany dress she has earlier in the film. But since 80s fashions were so absurd, it looks equally dated to modern eyes.

The original ending of that movie was for Andi to end up with Duckie. Test audiences hated it, so they reshot and used that ending later in Some Kind of Wonderful.