Two Brats for the Price of One Quiz

Answer: Molly Ringwald

Molly Ringwald was not yet sixteen herself when she starred as Samantha Baker in "Sixteen Candles", the John Hughes film that made her Teen Angst personified in the mid-1980s. Sam's parents forget her birthday in the bustle of her sister's wedding, setting up the mandatory mix of teen humiliation, awkward romance, and social catastrophe. And you guessed it! That's where Anthony Michael Hall comes in. Credited only as "The Geek", this marks the role where he moved from the background character to full-fledged Hughes muse. Ringwald and Hall would of course team up again in the definitive Brat Pack ensemble movie "The Breakfast Club" the following year.

Answer: The Stand

The 1994 adaptation of "The Stand" was a four-part, six-hour ABC television event based on Stephen King's post-apocalyptic novel. The abridged version. Molly Ringwald played Fran Goldsmith, a young, strong-willed survivor whose small-town life is turned upside down when a government-engineered superflu wipes out most of the world's population. Rob Lowe appeared as Nick Andros, a kind-hearted drifter who is deaf and mute, portrayed largely through facial expression and handwritten notes, a role Lowe has said is among his personal favorites.

The series became one of the most-watched television miniseries of the decade and helped establish King's place as a go-to author for television. It would later be re-adapted in 2020 for streaming audiences, though many fans of the original still swear by the 1994 version for its accuracy... and despite the hairspray and made-for-TV budget.

Answer: Judd Nelson

"Blue City" reunited Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson after "The Breakfast Club", but this time they weren't trapped in detention. They were wrapped up in a Floridian tale of murder and corruption involving Nelson's character returning to his hometown to avenge his father's death. Nelson had already established his public image as the Brat Pack's resident "bad boy" thanks to "The Breakfast Club" and "St. Elmo's Fire", and "Blue City" doubled down on that. Leather jacket? Check. Chip firmly set on the shoulder? Check. A general willingness to punch first and regret never? Yup.

The film was adapted from a 1947 Ross Macdonald crime novel, updated to a contemporary neon-and-nightclubs 1980s setting. Despite the strong pairing of two major Brat Packers, the movie was a critical and commercial flop. Even Sheedy joked years later that she "took a long nap career-wise" after the movie came out.

Answer: About Last Night

1986's "About Last Night" was one of the decade's more grounded Brat Pack-adjacent romances. Definitely less high school fantasy, and more "what actually happens the morning after when real life starts to intrude." Rob Lowe and Demi Moore play Danny and Debbie, two young professionals in Chicago whose relationship begins as a one-night stand and slowly... and messily evolves into something that might actually count as adulthood.

The film was based on David Mamet's 1974 play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago", although "sex" and "perversity" were both significantly toned down for the moviegoing public.

Answer: Andrew McCarthy

"Class" was Andrew McCarthy's very first film role, and it set the tone for the smooth-faced, quietly earnest roles that would make him a staple of 1980s coming-of-age dramas. He plays Jonathan, a shy prep-school scholarship student who falls into a relationship with an older woman, only to later discover she is actually the mother of his best friend Skip, played by Rob Lowe. Uh-oh.

The movie hit theaters a year before "Sixteen Candles" and two years before "St. Elmo's Fire", making it a kind of proto-Brat Pack artifact. It also paired two soon-to-be big names of the era before either had fully "arrived." Lowe was still early in his career himself, following his breakout in 1983's "The Outsiders".

Answer: Feud: Capote vs. The Swans

"Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" is the second season of Ryan Murphy's "Feud" anthology series and premiered in 2024. It dramatizes Truman Capote's nasty social downfall after he betrayed the confidence of New York's high-society women, the so-called "Swans", by airing their secrets in thinly veiled fiction. Demi Moore plays Ann Woodward, a former showgirl-turned-socialite whose reputation was already tabloid-fodder before Capote's story. Molly Ringwald appears as Joanne Carson, a close friend of Capote who remained loyal to him even after the rest of Manhattan decided they'd had enough.

Answer: Rob Lowe

"Oxford Blues" stars Rob Lowe as Nick Di Angelo, a brash Las Vegas nightclub valet who follows a British aristocrat, one Lady Victoria Wingate, if you please, across the Atlantic to Oxford University, convinced that making the rowing team will somehow make her notice him (I've tried dumber things). Ally Sheedy plays Rona, the grounded and far more compatible friend who tries to keep him from sinking, figuratively and maybe sometimes literally.

The movie was loosely based on the 1938 film "A Yank at Oxford", though this version is extremely 1980s: loud confidence, leather jackets, and a romantic plan built almost entirely on hope, duct tape, and stubbornness. The film did modest business and was never considered a Brat Pack high point, but it arrived right in the middle of that period when just seeing Rob Lowe in a windbreaker apparently counted as a historic event.

Answer: Pretty in Pink

"Pretty in Pink" is a classic John Hughes teen romance starring Molly Ringwald as Andie Walsh, a smart but financially strapped high schooler who falls for Blane McDonagh, played by Andrew McCarthy, a sweet but socially dependent rich kid. Their relationship is complicated by the class divide between them, plus the extremely aggressive opinions of Blane's status-conscious friends and Andie's lovelorn best friend Duckie, played by Jon Cryer in one of the more enduring sidekick performances of the era.

The movie is often remembered for its soundtrack as much as its storyline. The Psychedelic Furs' title song became permanently fused to the movie's pastel identity, and the film helped establish the association between teen heartbreak and alternative rock. The original ending famously had Andie end up with Duckie, but test audiences hated it, so Hughes rewrote and reshot the finale.

Answer: Betsy's Wedding

"Betsy's Wedding" was released in 1990, the fourth feature film Alan Alda wrote and directed, and he also co-stars as Eddie Hopper, the well-meaning but image-conscious father of the bride. Molly Ringwald plays Betsy, the bride whose upcoming wedding sets off a chain reaction of family chaos, while Ally Sheedy plays her sister Connie. Madeline Kahn appears as Alda's oh-so-long-suffering wife, and the supporting cast is further stacked with 1990 energy... Joe Pesci, Anthony LaPaglia, Catherine O'Hara, and Burt Young all show up to cause additional mayhem.

The film is a light satire about money, class, pride, and family vanity wrapped in pretty pastel wedding décor, and although it was marketed as a romantic comedy, critics noted the plentiful ego on display. Philadelphia Inquirer critic Steven Rea famously described it as "narcissism flourishing like ragweed," which is the kind of wedding toast you never forget.

Answer: Demi Moore

"Wisdom" was Emilio Estevez's directorial debut, and at just 23 he became the youngest person in Hollywood history at that time to write, direct, and star in a studio film. Demi Moore co-stars as Karen Simmons, the loyal (if less than enthusiastic) girlfriend who joins him on a cross-country fugitive spree after his character, John Wisdom, decides that rather than getting a job, he should rob banks in order to erase farm debts for struggling Americans.

It's all Robin Hood and Reagan-era angst, filtered through a first-time director with big ambitions.

While the film has its following, overall it was a disappointment among critics and the film-going public.