Sixteen Candles (1984)

Sixteen Candles parents guide

For a PG, this one goes further: moderate sex and nudity, and some strong language. Beyond that, nothing scary and no jump scares.

Scare

Not scary

Jump scares

None noted

Gore

No gore

Violence

No real violence

Sex and nudity

Moderate

Checked by hand. Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.

Language

Moderate

Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is Sixteen Candles about?

With the occasion all but overshadowed by her sister's upcoming wedding, angst-ridden Samantha faces her 16th birthday with typical adolescent dread. Samantha pines for studly older boy Jake, but worries that her chastity will be a turnoff for the popular senior. Meanwhile, she must constantly rebuff the affections of nerdy Ted, who is unfortunately the only boy in school who seems to take an interest in her.

Cast and crew

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Sixteen Candles is on our Romance on Hulu list.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “funny but not stupid, under two hours”
• “a fun halloween movie, not too scary”
• “a movie that will make me cry”

Lists with the same feel: Feel-good and Gentle.