For Reel

Director: John Hughes

Coming off the success of “Sixteen Candles”, John Hughes directed one of the quintessential films of the 80’s, “The Breakfast Club”. The premise is not unfamiliar to any form of literature: a group of strangers are placed in a common setting, and through this intimate exposure they gain insight about themselves and their acquaintances. By using typical high school archetypes, John Hughes examines the hierarchal structure of high school and the uniform parental angst amongst all teenagers.

The film centers around five individuals: John Bender (Judd Nelson), the burn-out; Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), the athlete; Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), the outcast; Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), the prom queen; and Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), the geek. Together they must attend an eight hour detention under the supervision of a stubborn teacher (Paul Gleason). Despite the initial assumptions they draw from their classmates’ appearances, the five grow close and understand just how much they have in common.

It’s fascinating that a film of this pace has cemented itself as a universal favorite amongst an entire generation. It’s not the raunchy sex comedy that “Sixteen Candles” is, nor does it have the memorably quirky episodes of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. Instead, this is a smart, revealing, and completely atypical portrait of high school life.

The film is not quite a timeless masterpiece for reasons that occur mostly in the third act. There are some completely inauthentic gimmicks, such as a dance sequence and unlikely romances, that undermine everything Hughes is trying to shed light on. And, although the film is smart about methodically revealing the shared inner turmoil of the five students, it’s a bit too easy to label these kids as products of abusive, neglecting, or perfectionist parents. Surely a teenager in the exclusive system that high school is could have issues not relating to poor parenting.

I wonder what a modern day Breakfast Club would look like. Although dealing with the most common archetypes, Hughes’ film suffers from not exploring more – the uniformly caucasian cast doesn’t shed light on the struggles of any minority students, not one of the students is gay, not one of the students is fat, etc. Although remembered fondly as a revealing portrait of high school life, we must distinguish that this is, in fact, a high school of attractive and privileged white kids. Nevertheless, “The Breakfast Club” remains an enormously enjoyable picture almost 25 years after it’s release.