The Breakfast Club

Rating:
Summary: It could have been a classic...!
Review: Ahh, this movie. Oh, dear.

This film was released at a time when I was especially susceptible to it; I was 15 in 1985 and was smack in the middle of the target market. I must have seen it at least half a dozen times since, and while my admiration for the craft of it has grown, my perception of what the film actually _does_ has sharpened and become more caustic.

In brief, Hughes starts with a superb premise and proceeds to systematically fudge it, rather than threaten the commercial appeal of the film. Watching it now, it starts soooo promisingly, with John Bender (Judd Nelson, excellent) in full bulging-eyed effect as the potential Lord of Misrule in this teenage purgatory. He is rude, obnoxious, and genuinely threatening as the quasi-berserk working-class loser. Over the course of the story, the various denizens of detention learn to overcome the prejudices they have about each other, and leave the building as a supposedly coherent bunch of Human Beings.

This is the bit that I find implausible. There were John Benders in my school, and they were this frightening, almost this intelligent, but no way were they this vulnerable. (In case you haven't guessed already, I am represented here by the Anthony Michael Hall character - the studious nerd - except that I wasn't that studious and no way did I do so well academically.) It was necessary for Hughes to flatter his largely teenage market by promoting a dream of solidarity - teens against the oldsters! - that simply didn't exist in the mid-Eighties. Hughes does manage to capture the utter distrust and dislike of authority amongst these kids; they defend Bender from the unpleasant teacher, even though they don't like him, and that much is accurate. (Trivia note: Paul Gleason, the classic 80s rentavillain, he did exactly the same hardass mo-fo schtick in Trading Places, is great as the teacher, who happens to be called Richard Vernon - I'm guessing, after the veteran UK actor Richard Vernon, who played the elderly square in the train compartment in the first reel of the first Beatles' movie "A Hard Day's Night". Teen revolt intertextuality. Somebody follow this up, please.)

This could have been a seriously radical (in every sense of the word) film if the other kids had turned on the Nelson character and torn him to shreds. Instead, he gets the prom queen and even gets to stick her diamond earring in his lobe. Of course, the film I dream of would never have been made.

Still, it was something of a pleasant shock, when you were 15, to find your most subversive sentiments being aired in a Hollywood movie, even if the film ignored, glossed over or otherwise fudged them in the wind-up. So I still enjoy The Breakfast Club, even though I no longer believe it. The thing I find depressing is that teenagers today seem to be even less rebellious...

Rating:
Summary: The Best 80's Movie!
Review: If you have never seen the Breakfast Club before, it is definitly essential that you see it. I have seen it probably about 20 times and I never get sick of it. It is just one of those movies that you apsolutely fall in love with. This movie is funny, touching and definitly NOT boring. People can totally relate to one if not all of the characters. The way high school is portrayed is very realistic. This is an awsome movie. I loved it the first time I saw it, but it only gets better with time. If you haven't seen it, you should go see it. Now.

Rating:
Summary: stuck in detention
Review: I saw this movie at school a few weeks ago,i think it's pretty cool and stuff.Kids in the class laughed and everything,well i didn't luagh that much tough because i've seen funnier ones like dumb and dumber.If your a serious person, don't watch this movie becuase you'll get bored,and if your going to watch it two times make sure you bring a pillow.

Rating:
Summary: A Tale of Two Movies
Review: On one side you have a heart warming comemdy not too far removed from reality and very lovable. On the otherside you have a psychological study: What happens when five teens who represent the five steriotypical high school groups (The Prom Queen, The Jock, The Brain, THe Basket Case and The Criminal) are put together alone. This movie satisfies both the thinkers and the doers. Not only is the movie funny, entertaining and compassionate it really shows the true face behind each of these groups. We are all part of one group or several. I was a brain and jock and sometimes a criminal and sometimes a basket case. THe plot of the movie: The five kids have eight hours to figure out who they are, in the end you find out who you are. A must see from a first timer viewer!

Rating:
Summary: The best movie of all time
Review: This movie is wonderful. I first saw it when I was about 12 at a slumber party. I'll never forget it, my friends and I were drooling over Emilo Estevez and Judd Nelson all night. We all loved it. It wasn't until the series Suddenly Susan started on television that I realised I knew Jack's character (played by Judd Nelson)from somewhere. I finally figured it out, The Breakfast Club and then spent 9 months tracking a copy down. I found it in a backwards video store 50kms from home, but I hired it every other week, and introduced alot of my uni friends to The Breakfast Club.

There is something for everyone in this movie young and old. You can realate to at least one character or part of a character and by the end of the movie you love them all. You can see your friends in these characters. This movie is really a great watch. It is even applicable to teens today, i highly recommend this excellent 80's brat pack movie.

Another good watch from the brat pack era is St. Elmo's Fire, check it out.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This movie has "classic" written all over it. John Hughes wrote and directed this film about five high school kids forced to spend a Saturday in detention together. Their punishment: to write an essay on who they think they are. They are, most simply put, the jock, Andrew (Emilio Estivez), the brain, Brian (Michael Anthony Hall), the princess, Claire (Molly Ringwald), the freak, Allison (Ally Sheedy), and the criminal, Bender, (Judd Nelson). At first they see themselves and each other as their steryotypes, but as they spend their eight hours together, they come to see that they are not that different from one another. They are all struggling with their problems and issues, their own fears and doubts about their lives ahead. They become friends. They become The Breakfast Club.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best 'teen dramas of the century!
Review: I saw 'The Breakfast Club' in my sophomore English class because my teacher wanted us to watch this movie. 'The Breakfast Club' is about a group of high school students (during the '80s) who all end up at Saturday detention, each for a different reason. The students at the beginning, of course, absolutely HATE each other - they can't STAND each other! But then they learn to appreciate each other as the day goes by. They start to appreciate each other when they each tell why they were in Saturday dentention, and become friends in the end.

I like how they have a cast of completely different characters: a jock, a princess, a nerd, a weirdo, and a metalhead. They actually seem like realistic characters - and some of the stories they tell are heartwarming and devastating. All in all, good acting; fantastic plot; and a great cast. There's also a really important moral to be learned when watching this movie. If you listen very closely, you'll be able to catch it. This is a great movie. You don't even have to be in high school to enjoy it. I really recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: They were as different as they were the same!
Review: Did you know that "social" problems such as being "picked" on in school are one of the top reasons for teen suicide? Yes, it is true. Students commit suicide to escape the torture of being treated unfairly. The kid who is viewed and labeled as a dork dream of being treated like the others. The princess of the class flaunts her beautiful necklace of real precious stones that her parents gave to her. Others look and wish they had here wealth and looks. The bully is feared by many, as they tremble at the though of being humiliated by him. Many, even weird by the dork, which even in his case does not understand him/her, view the weirdo of the class as a reject.

This is somewhat of what makes the suicide rate so large for the American Student. Harmony among the "labels" is distant if not nothing more than a dream for many. This film indirectly tackles this issue.

These five students were scheduled for detention for eight hours. A dork, kook, criminal, jock and a princess sat in their seats for these eight hours. There sat five students, five labels, five minds, and five personalities. Five students, five labels, five minds, five personalities that were totally different and clashed horribly. At first the clashing showed the dork getting picked on, the kook getting laughed at, the jock being challenged, the princess getting lets say getting some inappropriate remarks by the bully.

Their assignment was an essay on "Who Am I?" Through the course of the film they would come to know the answer of this more than they ever dreamed. The clashing turned into harmony. The realized this difference which once caused the "clashing" is what made their friendship so strong. Amazingly they came to understand they were as different as they were the same. They entered each other's world. They all entered the bully world as he told of this horrid and dreadful home situation. They even smoked his dope that they once viewed as something they would never do. (This is a funny scene Brain in this scene will make you rewind a few times it is so funny.) The bully entered the princes' world as he wore the expensive diamond jewelry earring that once was the center and target of his jokes. Their world merged as they merged into one and the harmony they once only dreamed of came rushing in.

Rating:
Summary: A DVD review
Review: A must DVD for anyone who was in high school in the 80's. Probably teenagers today could relate to it too. The picture quality was excellent. The sound quality was adequate. Some short notes on the making are included with some bios. A must have for anyone nostalgic about their high school years.

Rating:
Summary: Teen Angst at its Best
Review: Ah, the troubled times of teenage life. We all get our tastes of relationships, bullies, problems at school, and friendships. Many directors have tried their hand at teen movies and have failed, but John Hughes goes above and beyond all others with this classic "Brat Pack" movie about 5 totally different teens stuck in Sat. detention with a loser teach and 8 hours to sit and do nothing. ALthough the prospects look grim, the kids manage to bond with one another despite their backgrounds.

Each of the 5 actors display a deeper side of their characters, especially Estevez's wrestling-jock who struggles with his father's expectations. Although the ending seemed to be anti-climactic, it doesn't take anything away from the strong last-half of the movie when the 5 characters find common ground with each other. This is definitely one of Hughes's best movies, along with Ferris Bueller, but while Ferris provides non-stop comedy, The Breakfast Club has a mixture of both unexpected comic moments and seriousness. A definite view for any movie fan.