Sixteen Candles

Show me a woman between the ages of 28 and 35 who didn’t have a crush on Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), the superfox dreamboat of John Hughes’ classic 1984 teen wish-fulfillment fantasy, and I’ll show you, well, a lesbian. Hughes, the man who would go on to make The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, and just about every other great ’80s movie never remotely eligible for an Oscar, found his first and best muse in Molly Ringwald, the ordinary/extraordinary everygirl. Her pouty lips, gawky body, and frequent eyeball rolls—not the flawless, über-confident sexpot represented by Jake’s bitchy queen-bee girlfriend—truly captures the agony and ecstasy of being a teenager. The role of Samantha was a breakout for Ringwald, but Anthony Michael Hall, as the jittery, froggy-voiced captain of the geek squad, and John and Joan Cusack in two of their earliest roles, are just as much fun to watch. (PG) LEAH GREENBLATT

Feb. 12-18, 7 & 9:30 p.m., 2009