The last 10 minutes of the movie Sixteen Candles are some of my favorite in cinema. The moment when "If You Were Here" by the Thompson Twins" begins to play, my skin erupts with goosebumps because I know what is coming. The song cues the moment when Samantha leaves the church, realizes that everyone else has left for her drug-addled sister's wedding reception, only to discover that Jake Ryan has come to the church... for her.
Whenever I spot Sixteen Candles playing on TV and I have time (as I did last night), I sit and watch it. Suddenly I am transported back to 1986 when Sam and I are the same age. We're both living the same angst-filled life. Her obviously stereotyped classmates pretty accurately (although exaggerated) reflect my own classmates from the nerd boys to the jocks to the rich kids living in object-rich emotionally-empty houses.
Then there is Jake. Who didn't want that fabulous fair isle sweater vest he wears in that final scene, or better yet, the man himself? Flash forward 8 years and I will never forget when Charles picked me up to go on a date wearing a vest just like it. I did a double-take. Never having seen the movie, he had no idea why I was so pleased to see him in it. How lucky was I? Charles had come to the house... for me!
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