Classic--The Breakfast Club

or: All the real teenagers.

One word to sum it up: True.

A little while back, I watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the first time, which kinda changed my opinion on 80's comedies. A few people recommended that I watch The Breakfast Club, because apparently that was one of the best John Hughes films out there, so I bought it and gave it a go. So maybe 80's comedies weren't that bad after all...

Five students, Claire (Molly Ringwald), Andrew (Emilio Estevez), Brian (Anthony Michael Hall), Allison (Ally Sheedy), and John Bender (Judd Nelson), all different stereotypes, are placed in detention on a Saturday. They pour their hearts out to each other, and discover they have way more in common than they originally thought.

The film was different than what I expected. I kinda expected an account of day to day life at high school over several days. What did I get? An account of a detention set over one day. But do I care? No. The movie was really, really good. Watching five very different, very believable, very relateable, teenagers interact and talk to each other about what bothers them...well, that strikes a chord when you are a teenager. I know someone who is like each of those characters (okay, maybe I don't really know a compulsive liar like Allison, but I know someone not far from her), and that's why this film is so special. Because I know where they are coming from and I understand the way that they feel.

Give five talented young stars a John Hughes script and they have practically set up their whole career. If only we could still have a 'brat-pack' who made movies which were similar in tone to John Hughes movies. The closest we have got to good teen movies are ones like Mean Girls and I am presuming that Easy A is another good one. John Hughes works have such a spirit, and he really seems to understand the lives of teenagers instead of giving them a distant stereotype: they whine, they eat to excess, the bitch about each other constantly even though it doesn't make sense, and they all hate their parents. John Hughes tones down the whole 'teenagers are horrible' idea and makes us a little more believable.

I'm guessing that you watch The Breakfast Club while you're a teenager, and you will find yourself relating to it. If you watch it when you are older, then it will bring back memories and be quite a nostalgic little movie. Either way, it's a bloody good movie.


THE VERDICT: A charming and funny insight into the lives of teenagers, which comes as a breath of fresh air instead of a stuffy over stereotyped piece. John Hughes is at his best here, as are the members of the Brat Pack. A must-see classic film from the 1980's.

8/10 (rating is bound to go up on a second viewing)