Sixteen Candles

It's late and W. and I are vegged out on the couch. We're surfing the channels and are coming up short. Just as we're about to give up, we catch Molly Ringwald bickering with her "sister, who has apparently neglected to greet her a happy birthday. SIXTEEN CANDLES! I am 14 once more.

There's Long Duc Dong at the dining table. Molly Ringwald walking into a high school gym prettified into a dance hall, Spandau Ballet's "True" playing in the background. Cut to Joan Cusack in a neck brace dancing to the Specials.

"Bet you a dozen floppy disks you don't even get a kiss," says one twerpy boy to the Geek (Anthony Michael Hall). Boy, has it been that long?