Some Kind of Wonderful
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
40 free Some Kind of Wonderful trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Some Kind of Wonderful arrived in 1987 as one of the last teen films John Hughes wrote, and it has never quite left the conversation. Its triangle is simple: Keith, a quiet kid who paints, is fixated on the popular Amanda Jones, while his best friend Watts watches from close range and says less than she feels. Fans still argue about who deserved whom. This quiz covers the whole film: the plot from the first school corridor to the last walk down the street, the characters and the actors who played them, the casting changes before the cameras rolled, the locations, the critics and the British indie songs on the soundtrack. Every answer comes with a short explanation. It is written for people who grew up with the film and for anyone making their way through the John Hughes catalogue. The early questions are friendly; the later ones reward viewers who remember the smaller scenes and the names in the credits.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Keith, Watts and Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful are named in tribute to which rock band?
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones supplied all three names: Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and the 1967 album track Miss Amanda Jones. Writer John Hughes meant it as an inside joke.
Q 02Some Kind of Wonderful retells which earlier John Hughes film with the sexes of the lead characters switched?
Pretty in Pink
Pretty in Pink had its ending reshot after test audiences rejected the best friend winning, so Hughes told the story again with a boy at its centre.
Q 03The actors who play Keith and Amanda in Some Kind of Wonderful were both cast in which 1985 blockbuster?
Back to the Future
Back to the Future kept one of them as Lorraine but replaced the other with Michael J. Fox several weeks into the shoot.
Q 04Which future Full House star plays Keith's youngest sister, Cindy, in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Candace Cameron
Candace Cameron took the small part of Cindy Nelson in the same year that she began her long run as D.J. Tanner.
Q 05In Some Kind of Wonderful, Keith spends his college savings on which gift for Amanda Jones?
Diamond earrings
Diamond earrings swallow the whole fund, which infuriates his father, and by the final scene Keith has given them to Watts instead.
Q 06Which instrument does Keith's tomboy best friend Watts play in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Drums
Drums define Watts so completely that the original John Hughes script called the character simply Drummer Girl.
Q 07Which star of earlier John Hughes teen films turned down a lead role in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Molly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald wanted more adult parts and felt the script echoed her earlier work with Hughes; the two never made another film together.
Q 08At which famous outdoor concert venue do Keith and Amanda sit on the empty stage in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is where Keith hands over his gift and the pair accuse each other of using the date to prove a point.
Q 09What do Keith and Watts rehearse together before his big date with Amanda in Some Kind of Wonderful?
A kiss
A kiss is what Watts suggests practising, with her standing in for Amanda, and Keith only grasps what it meant after the party.
Q 10Which actress plays Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful and married the film's director two years later?
Lea Thompson
Lea Thompson first turned the part down and accepted only on a second offer; she and the director married in 1989, and both their daughters became actresses.
Q 11Which actor, a Golden Globe nominee as Rocky Dennis in Mask, plays Keith Nelson in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Eric Stoltz
Eric Stoltz signed on for the darker film an earlier director had planned, and stayed when she and two of his co-stars were replaced.
Q 12Which actress, later the star of Fried Green Tomatoes and Benny & Joon, plays Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Mary Stuart Masterson
Mary Stuart Masterson was singled out by several critics, who praised both her look and her performance as Watts.
Q 13Where does aspiring artist Keith Nelson earn his money after school in Some Kind of Wonderful?
A gas station
Q 21Who directed Some Kind of Wonderful, his second John Hughes script after making his feature debut a year earlier?
Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch had made music videos for Billy Idol and Billy Joel, and returned to the film shortly before shooting to replace the director who had replaced him.
Q 22Which member of Keith's family overhears the plot against him at the mall in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Laura
Laura, the sister who spends the film mocking Keith, hears the scheme while showing her friends she can now mix with the popular crowd.
Q 23What does Amanda Jones do to her rich ex-boyfriend once he backs down at the party in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Slaps him
A gas station with a repair shop employs Keith as a mechanic, and Amanda's boyfriend pulls in there to warn him to stop staring at her.
Q 14Keith's father Cliff insists that he study which subject at college in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Business
Business is the only major Cliff will accept, because Keith would be the first in the family to go to college and art can wait for his spare time.
Q 15On Keith's big date with Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful, which job does Watts take on?
Chauffeur
Chauffeur is the part Watts plays all evening, driving the pair in a vintage luxury car and watching from the bleachers as they talk.
Q 16How does Keith deliberately land himself in detention alongside Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Sets off the fire alarm
Sets off the fire alarm, and the plan backfires: Amanda charms her way out of the punishment and Keith is left with the school troublemakers.
Q 17Which Some Kind of Wonderful character arrives with friends from detention to rescue Keith at the party?
Duncan
Duncan, the skinhead who bonds with Keith over artwork in detention, faces down the host; the end credits list him only as Skinhead.
Q 18Which wealthy boyfriend of Amanda Jones invites Keith to a party as a trap in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Hardy Jenns
Hardy Jenns plans to have Keith beaten up in front of the guests, a scheme Keith learns about in advance and walks into anyway.
Q 19The actor who plays Keith's father in Some Kind of Wonderful is best known as Sergeant Taggart in which film series?
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop paired John Ashton with Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold, and he worked with John Hughes again a year later on She's Having a Baby.
Q 20The actress who plays Mia, Amanda's blonde rival in Some Kind of Wonderful, later sang in which pop trio?
Wilson Phillips
Wilson Phillips took Chynna Phillips to number one with the single Hold On in 1990, three years after she made her screen debut as Mia.
Slaps him, moments after Keith tells the bully that his reign over the school has ended, and then she walks out at Keith's side.
Q 24What does Keith lead Amanda Jones to see inside a museum after hours in Some Kind of Wonderful?
His portrait of her
His portrait of her hangs among the gallery's works because the guard on duty that night is the father of a friend from detention.
Q 25Which small British car does Watts drive Keith to school in during Some Kind of Wonderful?
Mini Cooper
Mini Cooper, and an old one: when it refuses to start, Keith ends up riding home with Amanda in her friend's car instead.
Q 26Which actor plays Amanda's wealthy boyfriend in Some Kind of Wonderful before starring in A River Runs Through It?
Craig Sheffer
Craig Sheffer won the role in a late recasting, and years later played a Keith himself: Keith Scott on the teen drama One Tree Hill.
Q 27Which future Casey Jones of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles plays the skinhead in Some Kind of Wonderful?
Elias Koteas
Elias Koteas was praised by reviewers in this early role, long before his run as Al Olinsky in the Chicago P.D. franchise.
Q 28The actor who plays Keith in Some Kind of Wonderful later appeared as drug dealer Lance in which 1994 film?
Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction brought him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Vincent's dealer, seven years after he played the lovestruck teenager Keith.
Q 29The actress who plays Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful later starred as a cartoonist in which NBC sitcom?
Caroline in the City
Caroline in the City ran for four seasons from 1995, with her in the title role as a comic-strip artist living in Manhattan.
Q 30London folk-rock band Lick the Tins covers which Elvis Presley hit on the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack?
Can't Help Falling in Love
Can't Help Falling in Love was played so fast by the band that three polkas were added to the end of the track to bring it up to length.