Sixteen Candles (1984)

Few things hurt more at 16 than feeling invisible, especially on the one day you're supposed to be the center of attention. John Hughes' directorial debut, "Sixteen Candles," stars Molly Ringwald as Samantha Baker, a suburban Chicago teenager whose entire family forgets her 16th birthday in the chaos surrounding her older sister Ginny's (Blanche Baker) wedding the next day. Hughes shows how growing up can be full of surprises in this warmhearted teen comedy. As if being overlooked weren't bad enough, Samantha has to give up her bedroom to visiting grandparents, who've also brought along a wild foreign exchange student. At school, she's pestered by a lovesick freshman geek (Anthony Michael Hall) while pining for handsome senior Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), whose popular girlfriend stands in her way. What Samantha doesn't know is that Jake has started to notice her too. A school dance, a chaotic house party and a wedding that goes hilariously off the rails all follow, along with a touching late-night heart-to-heart between Samantha and her father (Paul Dooley). Justin Henry, John Cusack and Joan Cusack co-star, and it all leads to one of the most memorable birthday-cake moments in movie history, set to the Thompson Twins' "If You Were Here." Some of its humor, especially its broad ethnic caricature of the exchange student, hasn't aged well.