Movie Morals that Annoy You

[underjoyed]

^^I'm not a criminal! I'm a free spirit!

[philipcarey]

I really like Pretty in Pink, except for the ending (the real one or the fan-girly-wanky one with Ducky). But when Annie Potts essentially changes her entire identity at the end to that hideous Paula Poundstone-style ensemble...that is where I have to make up my own alternate endings.

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the clowny yuppie/preppy crossover is so much more dated than the perennial "eccentric, wacky" thing she was cruising with before.

Annie Potts? Didn't play Molly Ringwald the lead? And I'm also pretty sure that the "Ducky" ending wasn't a fan wank but rather the originally intended one*.

But I agree with you that both endings don't work because both guys were asshats. Blane had no backbone and was totally James Spader's bitch. Ducky was an annoying stalker in the making and gayer than Tom Cruise performing Lord Of The Dance.

If ever a movie cried out for a Kelly Taylor-esque "I choose me" ending, it's this one.


* And it didn't work either when they used the "Underdog wins" ending in the quasi-remake Some Kind of Wonderful because I absolutely didn't get why I should root for passive-aggressive Watts or for Eric Stoltz for that matter. Hated them both.

[underjoyed]

philipcarey said:

Annie Potts? Didn't play Molly Ringwald the lead? And I'm also pretty sure that the "Ducky" ending wasn't a fan wank but rather the originally intended one*.

But I agree with you that both endings don't work because both guys were asshats. Blane had no backbone and was totally James Spader's bitch. Ducky was an annoying stalker in the making and gayer than Tom Cruise performing Lord Of The Dance.

If ever a movie cried out for a Kelly Taylor-esque "I choose me" ending, it's this one.

True. The fan-wanky one was the ending that actually made it into the movie. In the original script, Molly Ringwald's character ends up with Ducky, but apparently that went down like a lead balloon at test-screenings.

Personally, I always thought that Blaine and Ducky could both take a flying leap. Steff (James Spader) = *way* hotter.

Annie Potts' character starts off really ballsy and wild-and-crazy, but starts dating a normal guy and instantly morphs into a conservative dresser with 1980s mom-hair. That part of the movie always bugged me, too.

[chonies]

underjoyed said:

philipcarey said:

Annie Potts? Didn't play Molly Ringwald the lead? And I'm also pretty sure that the "Ducky" ending wasn't a fan wank but rather the originally intended one*.

But I agree with you that both endings don't work because both guys were asshats. Blane had no backbone and was totally James Spader's bitch. Ducky was an annoying stalker in the making and gayer than Tom Cruise performing Lord Of The Dance.

If ever a movie cried out for a Kelly Taylor-esque "I choose me" ending, it's this one.

True. The fan-wanky one was the ending that actually made it into the movie. In the original script, Molly Ringwald's character ends up with Ducky, but apparently that went down like a lead balloon at test-screenings.

Personally, I always thought that Blaine and Ducky could both take a flying leap. Steff (James Spader) = *way* hotter.

Annie Potts' character starts off really ballsy and wild-and-crazy, but starts dating a normal guy and instantly morphs into a conservative dresser with 1980s mom-hair. That part of the movie always bugged me, too.

I'd heard of the Ducky+Andie ending (it was in the movelization, too ) but I wasn't entirely sure how true the test-screening story was. The fan-wankin' I was referring to were all the girls I knew in college--and elsewhere, now that I think about it-- who were so totally in love with poor, misunderstood, gamma-male Ducky (where's the barfing emoticon?) that I don't think I have ever made it through the movie without someone sighing "she should have been with Duckie!!! Can't she see he loves her so much?? They are teh perfect couple" as if it were Lucy Honeychurch and George Emerson or something. There was also a guy in college who skeeved me out who had adopted the Duckie persona, hat and all, and all the girls found it endearing. Again, yuck, but I am about to veer dangerously off-topic.

Also, in the novel, Steff Loved Andie All Along. To bring up another ghastly movie moral: boys torment the girls they like, but I think that was mentioned elsewhere already.

[weakagainstfire]

Hmm, movie morals that annoy me....

Well, why aren't more gay men empowered in movies? Instead of being like martyrs (which is NOT an empowerment...) or like, advice-givers? Why can't Hollywood make a movie (it can even be campy, I don't care) about a bunch of gay guys that kick ass ala Charlie's Angels style? Why do gay men die in some tragic, overly serious hate-crime and ultimately end up paying the price for being different? Where are the gay male Buffies? Why are they always there for the comic relief, or To Send An Important Message You Should Have Learned In Kindgergarten?

Why can't we be the damn heroes for once?

[india7]

Pretty In Pink is just, frankly, one of my favorite movies of all time, and I'm glad she winds up with Andrew McCarthy, because he's always been one of my imaginary boyfriends, so.... there you have it. But I do have to agree that I hated how Annie Potts' character goes from Dale Bozzio to Soccer Mom the minute she meets the pet shop guy!

I always hated how if there's a nice girl in any kind of horror movie, she always has a trampy best friend who inevitably gets it from the monster/beast/etc. See Jamie Lee Curtis and PJ Soles in Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis in any of her late '70s - early '80s roles. Or the girl who played William Peterson's daughter in Beast - nice girl, trampy friend.

[satellite]

I watched the last hour of Pretty in Pink on cable the other day since it was being discussed here. OMG, was it always so melodramatic and I just didn't notice?

Ducky was an annoying stalker in the making and gayer than Tom Cruise performing Lord Of The Dance.

Totally! They should suspend my faghag card for not picking up on this sooner. Then again I didn't watch the movie until later in life so I figured that everyone dressed like that in the 80's, and every outsider girl had a witty, funkily-dressed male best friend who wasn't really "boyfriend material".

My annoying John Hughes moral is that "every outsider kid has a burning crush on a popular kid and needs to get them to prove their self-worth". Please. I was pretty much a nerd, and by ninth grade I was looking for (preferably cute) guys who shared my interests and were on my level. I wasn't drooling to seek the acceptance of the "popular crowd". My school was on the small side so everyone knew each other anyway. It wasn't this huge animosity between cliques.

[thesurlymermaid]

The movie is a huge guilty pleasure for me, but Baby Boom has the played out city living is bad for children, the country is more wholesome, blah, blah, blah. However, they went a step further with the a woman can have it ALL thing. By the end of the movie, JC Wyatt is running a successful business, a perfect mom, and has the hot vet boyfriend played by Sam Shepard. And it's a nice thought, but highly, highly unrealistic. Plus, her kid doesn't age at all the whole film, and a considerable amount of time SHOULD have to pass before your baby food business sweeps the nation, you know?

[Dr. Freude]

I heard the Molly Ringwald was the one who didn't want Andie to end up with Duckie.

[Deleted]

Ducky was an annoying stalker in the making and gayer than Tom Cruise performing Lord Of The Dance.

Excellent! I never saw the appeal of Duckie. I actually got into a fight with my FATHER because he saw himself as some sort of early 1960s Duckie, pining after the sister of his best friend who used to whine to my dad about how she could never find a man (not quite the same thing, but well... it is close enough for my dad) and I just cannot join the "We Heart Duckie" club. He was so creepy - not endearing in the least. I was rooting for Blaine all the way. Until I rewatched it (with a guy who totally saw himself as Duckie - boo!) and realized that Steff was the real badass. Blazers and loafers without socks! Hell yeah.

Moral? Um... I don't like that Pretty in Pink encourages people to fail high school so that they can be the oldest and coolest guy in school. I mean, Steff had to have been a third or fourth year senior, right? ;D