I remember not loving this film when I saw it at the cinemas - too serious, I think, a lot of the issues went over my head - but it was Hughes' best teen script to date. There's no 16 Candles style broad comedy or racism/date rape, no Breakfast Club caricatures.
Maybe it's because I'm older now but I really appreciated the complex adult characters - Andie's father, still wiped out emotionally after his wife left (dramatically Hughes may have missed a trick not having the mum in the film but it's truer this way), hopeless with money and life but trying his best; Iona, the aging hippy, brain fried with drugs, in constant unhealthy relationships. Even the minor adult characters were nuanced here - the bouncer at the club, the teacher who knows about the class war and is sympathetic to Andy but kind of makes things worse by punishing girls who are mean to her.
The teen characters were, with one exception, vivid and real - Blane's weakness in the face of adversity makes his dreamboat existence more realistic; Ducky is one of the great characters in teen fiction, adolescent, panting, semi-stalking; Steff is an awesome, flawed atagonist (driven by desire for Andie). Even smaller parts like Steff's girlfriend and Andie's friend have nuance.
The character of Andie is the exception for me - she's basically perfect; nice and plucky and hard working and decent etc etc. But she does provide an important center for the film and casting the pretty-but-not-too-pretty Ringwald was of course the masterstroke.
The central concept is brilliantly effective and simple - many Hughes scripts were like this, which is why I feel his work as lasted so long and resonated with so many, because they are so simple yet universal. There's first rate dialogue, and good dramatic scenes. The comedy comes from character and lines rather than big moments.
The big thing that doesn't work for me in the script - the ending. I get how some people didn't like the movie ending, with Andie winding up with Blaine, thinking she should have been with Duckie... but I can so see why test audiences didn't like the first cut, which shot the script. Blane goes to the prom with another girl, Andie turns up with Duckie, Blane just sort of nods to them in defeat, then Andie and Duckie go and have a fun dance i.e. who needs romance when you've got friends (though the film hints at a romance between Andy and Duckie by describing Duckie turning up having transformed into a super hottie - but, I don't know, if she's friend zoned him this long do they really have a chance?)
The retakes are a lot better. Blane goes alone (his date was cut out of this sequence), which shows even though he's weak he truly loves Andie. He tells friend Steff to f*ck off, which is good justice - important for feeling of audience satisfaction. He goes up to Andie and does a complete mea culpa to her and Ducky - because he kind of owed Ducky an apology as well. He prostrates himself to her, thereby becoming deserving of her love. Then he leaves... and Ducky gives his blessing. Even though it's Andie's film, we see Ducky love her so much that I feel this is super important. Then Andie chases after Blane and they kiss - but not before a good looking girl bats his eyes at Ducky so we feel less bad about him being left alone.
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