Every John Hughes Teen Film Ranked Worst To Best

The first of Hughes' teen films that he did not direct, Pretty in Pink is undeniably a beautiful romantic film with an underlying message about class divisions, with stellar performances by Molly Ringwald and Jon Cryer.

The love triangle between working-class Andie, her best friend Duckie, and middle-class Blane, is spectacularly handled by director Howard Deutch, who crafts this film into the classic it is, skilfully weaving together the themes of love and divison. Nonetheless, it is far from perfect.

One thing that defines the Hughes teen films is their sense of humour; the cheesy 80s charm and wit that characterises these films is regrettably lacking in the comparatively mellow Pretty in Pink. The closest thing to humour is the flamboyant personality of Duckie, but there's only so much one character can do. Many would argue that a focus on romance is the reason for this, but Sixteen Candles and Some Kind of Wonderful prove that humour and romance are not mutually exclusive.

The final nail in the coffin is the ending, which sees Andie and Blane united, and was unsatisfactory for both writer John Hughes and the generations of audiences who still wish Andie and Duckie had ended up together. As a result of this, Duckie ends up with the most anticlimactic character arc of all the films on this list.

So, as much as is going for Pretty in Pink, it simply lacks the Hughes feel that is prevalent even in Weird Science.