Every John Hughes Teen Film Ranked Worst To Best
3. Some Kind Of Wondeful
For all intents and purposes, Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful are the same film. In fact, the latter only exists because John Hughes wasn't happy with the ending of the former. So he penned this new version of the film, with the genders of the main characters reversed.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Some Kind of Wonderful is the superior film. It does everything Pretty in Pink did, but better. The romantic aspect is much more real here, and passion seems to ooze off the screen. This may be partly assisted by the real-life romance forming behind the scenes with director Howard Deutch and star Lea Thompson, who ended up getting married and are together to this day.
The additional characters in Duncan and Maddie, a bit less emphasis on class divisions, and the subplot about Keith's father trying to get him to go to college, combined with an excellent score and a more humorous, feel-good tone to accompany the romantic elements, all make it a wonderful piece of cinema. Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Lea Thompson are magnificent leads, and work very well with the equally convincing supporting cast.
Arguably the most accurate portrait of teen romance ever put to film, Some Kind of Wonderful is a winner on every level.