Hall's breakout role came in 1984, when he was cast as Farmer Ted, the scrawny, braces-wearing geek who pursued Molly Ringwald's character in John Hughes' directing debut "Sixteen Candles". Hall tried to avoid the clichés of geekiness. "I didn't play him with 100 pens sticking out of his pocket," he said. "I just went in there and played it like a real kid. The geek is just a typical freshman." Hall landed a spot on the promotional materials along with co-star Ringwald. Reviews of the film were positive for Hall and his co-stars, and one for "People Weekly" even claimed that Hall's performance " the film" from Ringwald. Despite achieving only moderate success at the box office, the film made overnight stars of Ringwald and Hall.