The Breakfast Club

Rating:
Summary: A good representative of teen life in the '80s
Review: Of all the John Hughes films I have seen "The Breakfast Club" is probably my least favorite but only because I have seen this movie so many times on basic cable on Saturday mornings. Nevertheless the movie isn't bad as I make it out to sound. I grew up in the '80s and on John Hughes' films. I thought his coming of age teenage flicks like "Pretty in Pink", "Sixteen Candles", and "The Breakfast Club" at the time represented the lives of teenagers. That was almost twenty years ago and teenagers today are more angst-ridden and are dealing with a lot more serious problems. There really isn't much of plot in "The Breakfast Club". It simply revolves around a circle of high school students who end up getting detention and are forced to serve it on a Saturday morning. There is the jock Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), the rebel John Bender (Judd Nelson), popular girl Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), the outcast Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), and the geek Brian Ralph Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall). Principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) has his students in the library which forces them to talk to each other. Although it appears that they are different, the five students eventually realize that they really are not all that different despite the fact they come from different backgrounds and hang out with different crews. My favorite moment in the film were the more dramatic scenes when each character are forced to evaluate themselves. I also liked it when everyone tries to escape the library and get out of detention. Paul Gleason as principal Richard Vernon was the ideal antagonist for the five lead characters. He was pretty funny. Although I have seen this movie so many times and am pretty tired of it, I still like "The Breakfast Club".

Rating:
Summary: Great Film!
Review: The breakout movie for the 80's brat pack is one with many teenage issues
that can still be attributed with teens today. John Hughes' signature film
focuses on the harshness of high school social groups and how they affect people,
especially the teens who don't really know who they are yet.
"The Breakfast Club," is a movie that brings together 5 socially different
teens from fictitious Shermer High School, based on Hughes' high school
Glenbrook North in north suburban Chicago. The movie is about these students during
an all-day Saturday detention and their struggles with authority and accepting
one another. At the beginning of the day, they are given an assignment to
explain who they thought they were. And by talking to each other and baring their
souls, they realize, they are what everyone see's them as, and that it doesn't
matter what anyone else thinks, as long as they are happy. As said before,
all these students come from a different social group; each filling a
stereotypical role; the popular girl, the jock, the rebel, the nerd and the
weirdo.
All while sitting through detention, they realize how similar they are,
despite their obvious differences. Each of these teens are trying to figure out
who they are, all while trying to prove themselves in the eyes of those most
critical of them (parents, teachers, friends, coaches, etc.) By spending one magical day together, they learn and grow close through experiences and talking, even though they would never talk to each other normally. As the film winds down, you can't help but wonder if this would ever happen in real life. As much as the fantasy of movie life is intriguing, you know ti can't be real. And the movie gives false hope to the thought that judgmental teenagers will all get along and work through their problems. But who said a little fantasy is a bad thing. Thinking of one's own high school experience brings back the memories of the cliques and social groups that were there, and this is the movie that defined each group in a high school.
Some of the issues that are brought to attention in the film are drug abuse,
parental divorce, peer pressure, and attempted suicide. Each of these issues
can still be and are easily issues that are present today among teens. As seen in the film, high school is stressful enough, but with outside pressure and forces it can make it the hardest time in anyone's life. This movie not only described teenage angst in one generation, it defined it for all
teenagers at any time.
This movie is a great reference point for high school. Granted it has since been spoofed for its generalizations and full story line, it is still an 80's classic. If you have not seen it it comes highly recommended. "The Breakfast Club," is a great movie, but just don't take my word for it, see it for yourself!