High school senior Andie Walsh lives with her underemployed working-class father, Jack, in a Chicago suburb.
Blane shakes Duckie's hand and apologizes to Andie, telling her that he always believed in her and that he will always love her, kissing her cheek before walking out.
[8] Ringwald lobbied for Robert Downey Jr. to be cast as Duckie but agreed that Cryer made sense in light of the film's revised ending.
[18] Jon Cryer has stated that he was shocked that the test audience was unhappy about the pairing, and felt that the whole film was built around Andie and Duckie ending up together.
[19][20] Hughes aimed "to protect Duckie's character" in the new ending by having another girl at the prom show interest in him, played by Kristy Swanson in her first theatrical film role and credited as "Duckette".
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark had written the song "Goddess of Love" for the original ending (which they later rewrote and released on the album The Pacific Age).
[21] Hughes didn't consider the song a good fit for the newly re-shot Andie/Blane ending and asked the band to write something else.
[18] In the closing credits, the film is dedicated to actress Alexa Kenin and set designer Bruce Weintraub, both of whom died shortly after production had finished.
The site's consensus reads: "Molly Ringwald gives an outstanding performance in this sweet, intelligent teen comedy that takes an ancient premise and injects it with insight and wit.
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, criticizing the "old, old, old" plot but praising the performances of Molly Ringwald and Annie Potts, and calling it "a heartwarming and mostly truthful movie, with some nice touches of humor.
"[27] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Fortunately, the actors are mostly likable, and the story is told gently enough to downplay both its trendiness and its conventionality.
"[28] James Harwood of Variety wrote, "In his mid-30s, John Hughes' much-vaunted teen thinking now seems to be maturing a bit in Pretty in Pink, a rather intelligent (if not terribly original) look at adolescent insecurities ...
Teamed with Hughes for the third time, Molly Ringwald is herself growing as an actress, lending Pink a solid emotional center that largely boils down to making the audience care about her.
"[29] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote that Ringwald "carries the movie, though she has nothing particularly interesting to do or say," and called the film "slight and vapid, with the consistency of watery Jello.
"[30] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, faulting a "tired script" and Cryer's "one-note performance," though he found Ringwald "absolutely beguiling.
"[31] Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times called the film "delightful," adding that "what makes Pretty in Pink such a satisfying, big-hearted film isn't its creaky story line or its somewhat unconvincing conclusion, but the way it lets us watch kids through their own eyes, exploring feelings instead of making caricatures of them.
Written by Hughes and directed by newcomer Howard Deutch, the movie neatly captures the nuances of youth, reminding us how the most casual remark can unleash a flood of insecurities.
"[32] Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post wrote that "for the most part, Pretty in Pink works from a standard formula—rich boy, poor girl—and does little to tweak or reinvent it.
[34] As with previous films by John Hughes, Pretty in Pink featured a soundtrack composed mostly of new wave music.
Also noteworthy is the inclusion of Echo & the Bunnymen's "Bring On the Dancing Horses", which, according to the liner notes of the CD release of the band's compilation album Songs to Learn & Sing, was recorded specifically for the film.