Directed by:
John HughesScreenplay:
John HughesCinematography:
Thomas Del RuthComposer:
Gary ChangCast:
Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, John Hughes, John Kapelos, Ron Dean, Mike BurnhamVOD (2)
Plots(1)
When five high school students from different social groups are forced to spend a Saturday together in detention, they find themselves interacting with and understanding each other for the first time. A jock (Emilio Estevez), a criminal (Judd Nelson), a princess (Molly Ringwald), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), and a brain (Anthony Michael Hall) talk about everything from parental tension to sex to peer pressure to hurtful stereotypes while serving time. Ultimately, the five find that they may have more in common than they ever imagined and learn more about themselves as well as each other. The only question is, Will they remember what they've learned after they leave detention? (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
In the fifties it was Rebel Without a Cause, in the eighties it was The Breakfast Club. Two films that portrayed (and still portray) the contemporary problems of adolescents and their exacerbated relationship with authority and parents far more eloquently than any others. A small auteur film that through clever dialogue, believable characters and a dash of non-violent rock grimace has deservedly become a cult and quotable classic. Although it won't say much at times to someone who doesn't identify with any of the characters, it is undoubtedly an exceptional timeless work.
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Those archetypical characters have their justification in the film. Because nowhere else do you come close to the psychology of these figures. The Breakfast Club doesn't go extremely deep on this one, and even leaves a lot to the viewer's imagination (which in this case is a cop-out), but it surprisingly doesn't go to any extreme lengths to enrich the film with some pretty fresh humorous elements. Otherwise, I'd gladly pay two paychecks for the model they smoked there -)
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Although I've heard allusions to this now iconic film in more than one movie or TV show episode, it's only now, almost forty years after its premiere, that I got to The Breakfast Club. I was honestly expecting a more comedic piece, but after watching it I have to say that despite more than one humorous and light-hearted scene, John Hughes's film has quite a serious edge to it. In real life, this story, taking place over a few hours, would probably play out differently, yet the film ultimately appealed to me. For an hour and a half, we follow a group of seemingly disparate people who are united (literally bonded) by shared family and personal traumas. From quite banal problems, the plot slowly spills over into truly dense levels, but the film does not forget to be funny at the same time. A bonus is the theme song “Don't You (Forget About Me)”.
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John Hughes always managed to write very good characters, but here he truly went all out. At first glance, the protagonists may seem like caricatures, but they are deep, which is actually the essence of the whole movie, and John Hughes captured that perfectly. We are what we are, and this film shows it beautifully. Nothing will transform us unless we want it to. We just have to remember that.
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In The Breakfast Club, there is a visible effort to make it a generational film and supposedly it is a cult phenomenon in the United States. I don't know, it doesn't seem to me that it significantly portrays the young generation of the 80s, rather it is some sort of pretentious manifesto of teenagers. Everyone had to go through puberty and those who are currently going through it can naturally identify with the film's characters. Nothing more can be deduced from their dialogues and actions than annoyance toward parents and authority figures. They are far from being real characters, rather they represent classic school types - so typical that it reeks of script convenience. It's not funny and considering the aforementioned, the psychological aspect doesn't work for me either, and I can't emotionally identify with those guys, especially the jock and troublemaker portrayed by Judd Nelson, who I think needs a few slaps rather than understanding. His idea of independence and life ends where the French film The Class takes place. For the system to function, not everyone can just talk about their rights, they must also contribute. The film's characters don't behave realistically and their pairing at the end is also just a result forced by the script. Overall impression: 40%.
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