Nate_Gibson

16 Wishes (2010)

A decent movie... Definitely not for mature young teens...

What happens in this movie is basically self-explanatory from the title, on a girls 16th birthday, Debby Ryan (Zack and Cody on Deck), acquires 16 candles which allows her to have 16 wishes. Obviously something goes wrong with her wishes; she wishes to "stop being treated like a kid", and she changes her view on life after her short time as a 22 year old, so you can say it's not really that original. But, surprisingly, some parts are.

Although I was expecting something funnier, I can only say kudos to the guys in the movie, especially Debby's little brother, he's the reason why I didn't stop watching it after literally five minutes. Ironically, my 16th birthday was two days ago and I didn't get any presents, no party, only money from my dad. So I found Debby's character very obnoxious at first, not because of jealously obviously. If you're set on watching this, be aware that you will hear "It's meant to be my special day" over and over again, while being slapped in the face by her rudeness and "I'm so special" attitude.

I'm a pretty mature guy, so some parts that I think were supposed to be funny just made me close my eyes and shake my head. If you don't like screaming American girls getting excited over a "bag" and gasping over outfits, I love you. Nothing can be more stupid than that. Nothing.

One great thing about the movie is its originality in foreshadowing. Some things, like an obvious romance with a best friend is still here, but other things are surprising. For example, how she gets out of her bad wish, trust me; you won't be able to think how she will if you watch it. But, I was expecting a rivalry between two girls, because there always is, but this time I think, Kristina (Karissa Tynes) has a fair enough reason.

Overall, some bad and cliché acting by Debby, the adults make it realistic while she brings it down most of the time. I really felt for her though at one point, I'm sure anyone would. Forwarding life eight years when you don't know that there's always going to be a fat guy asking for rent is immensely frightening. Nevertheless, there is only a couple of jokes but this movie has some surprising twists that causes you to go "Ah…" because of its smart way of forcing you to remember specific moments. Other than that, this movie isn't all that… It's less than decent, but does well to provide a good message. This to me is doing things for others that you would do for yourself. Which is a pretty important thing to remember in my opinion.