What's the Best John Hughes Teen/High School Movie?

I was a senior in HS when "Breakfast Club" hit and I recall that I didn't think it felt very realistic. It was all so melodramatic!

 

While all being teen movies, you can’t evaluate them all the same. All are unique. To expect the seriousness and realistic plot of some of the other Hughes films is not treating each film for what it is imho. Ferris is not meant to be a character you sympathize with, so that hardly can be a weakness of the film. If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s all good, but it has its tender hearted moments, and one of the most impactful and meaningful sceneS out of all the Hughes films mentioned - the Chicago art institute scene with Cameron. The power and subtle brilliance of that art scene never ceases to amaze me how much can be evoked without even saying a word or any dialogue whatsoever. Music/Art/Facial Expressions speak far louder than any words during that scene could produce to help us understand the depths of Cameron's struggle. I don't think we give John Hughes enough credit for his genius, not just comedically, but understanding the human condition.

The brilliance of John Hughes in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, as he depicts the inner demons and struggles of Cameron, less through words as through silence and art when he stares at that Seurat portrait "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" during the Chicago Art Institute scene:

"The scene, an ode to Hughes’ personal admiration for the museum, takes the film from feel-good teen flick to thought-provoking cinema, and establishes its place among the best museum movies of all time... Unlike Ferris and Sloane, who remain happy and carefree throughout the film, Cameron is constantly wrestling his inner demons. He reluctantly follows Ferris’ lead, and at the museum, he plays along with Ferris and Sloane’s spoof of the art-going experience, mimicking the positioning of a Rodin statue and running through the gallery with a group of children. But once separated from his friends, Cameron finds himself in a moment of serious introspection in front of George Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.



The camera cuts back and forth between Cameron’s face and the face of the young girl at the center of the pointillist painting. Inching closer to the canvas with each cut, the camera is eventually so close to her face that it is no longer identifiable as such.

“He’s struggling to find his place and he dives into the face of that little kid,” says Harvey. “It almost brings me to tears, because he’s having a soul-wrenching, life changing experience. When he comes out of that painting, he will not be the same.”

While Ferris and Sloane are, perhaps alarmingly, confident in who they are, Cameron is constantly searching for his raison d’être. Just as the little girl in the painting faces a different direction from everyone around her, Cameron is experiencing life differently from his peers and particularly his best friend. In this little girl, Cameron begins to understand himself."

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/…/how-ferris-buellers-day-p…/

All of this is going on while the Dream's Academy's hauntingly beautiful instrumental cover of the Smith's "Please Let Me Get What I Want" is playing takes the scene and the movie to another level. This is simply perfection when the beauty of art, music, acting, and writing come together to depict the human struggle and longing for meaning and identity. But the power and subtle brilliance of that art scene never ceases to amaze me how much can be evoked without even saying a word or any dialogue whatsoever. Music/Art/Facial Expressions speak far louder than any words during that scene could produce to help us understand the depths of Cameron's struggle. I don't think we give John Hughes enough credit for his genius, not just comedically, but understanding the human condition. The more refined, older and mature I get, rewatching these John Hughes' comedies brings a different dimension compared to viewing them purely as a comedies when I was much younger. At the time, during the 80s, I simply didn't know any better. But now I do, and only makes me appreciate these great films even more.

 

We're supposed to like Ferris and think he's cool. If we don't, the movie has problems...

 

If you expect Ferris to evolve as a person, as in other Hughes films, then I agree, the movie has problems. But I don’t think it is what Hughes intended this film to be. In many ways, Cameron is the one who is changing and takes on that role in the film. Though I know not everyone is going to love this film.

 

I voted for FBDO because I saw part of the filming of the movie in gym class in high school[at one point I turned around and saw the red car right behind me].

 

Weird Science has a little bit of everything I like in a movie.

 

No, my criticism has nothing to do with FB's evolution or lack thereof.

My problem is that the movie wants to present him as an admirable, likable character but he's a selfish jerk.

We're supposed to think FB's awesome and want him to succeed but that becomes difficult since he's such an a-hole...

 

Good: Kelly L looks pretty hot at times.

Bad: everything else!

 

The good > the bad!

It may just be me, but I love the silliness of the whole thing.

 

Silly is fine, but "WS" just ain't funny, IMO!

Weird Science: Collector's Edition [Blu-Ray] (1985)

 

LOL! You don't need to speak for me, Colin. We each can have a valid opinion.

 

My rankings:

1. The Breakfast Club (By a huge margin. Great coming of age movie and anyone who didn't see parts of themselves in some, if not all 5, of the students when they were that age must've not been paying attention when watching it. Or even parts of themselves in the Principal or Janitor when they got older. LOL....just kidding.)

2. Weird Science (Fun, goofy, nerdy, sexy, and fantasy all in one movie. Bill Paxton's Chet character was perfect as the older dimwitted, meathead brother.)

3. Some Kind Of Wonderful (I think Hughes made the correct decision to "remake" Pretty In Pink with the feel-good ending he wanted.)

4. Sixteen Candles (Another goofy, fun and nerdy movie but it lacked the charm of Weird Science and does have some cringe-worthy stereotypes by today's standards, even though they were commonplace in the '80s and no one gave them a second thought back then.)

5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (I don't hate the movie but I don't like it as much as others have and that is because of the character Ferris himself. I would've knocked the hell out of a kid like that when I was in HS. I graduated in '84, so the movie is set around the same time. I couldn't stand kids like him in school, little smarta$$, attention-grabbing, selfish punks trying to be funny, while ruining just about everything they touch and the enjoyment for others, all in the name of being a jacka$$.)

6. Pretty In Pink (I don't remember much about this movie except the stars who were in it. I do remember James Spader's character was the most interesting of them all. But I consider this more of a "chick flick" compared to the others on this list. This is the least watched movie of the 6 for me. I think I only saw it once from start to finish and then bits and pieces other times while channel surfing.)

 

But I like to speak for you!

 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is my favorite teen movie, especially because to me it's obviously a parody of the entire genre. Within the first ten minutes, we see a very expensive stereo, an IBM XT and a Gretsch White Falcon guitar in Ferris' bedroom, intertwined with the MTV logo and posters of typical 80s groups like Simple Minds.

It's like a yuppie's fantasy on the life of the american teenager in the mid-80s and when you bear in mind how sensible Hughes depicted teenage life in his other films, it gets obvious that Ferris Bueller becomes a meta commentary on the teen flick genre as a whole. A genre full of movies made by people who have no idea of teenagers and who are belittling them to mindless idiots who are horny 24/7 or eternal losers (mostly the virgins). Hughes made the best ones, but some of the other teen stuff from the 80s is unbearable to watch! And I think that's what he was up to with Ferris - to present a lifestyle so completely detached from the target audience, a plot so f****** unrealistic, such over-the-top characters and details (Save Ferris? Come ON!).

As opposed to Hughes' other films, most teenagers you see in Ferris are mindless sheep blindly following Matthew Broderick, worshipping him like a god even though we see him doing nothing except skipping school, acting like a manipulative dick and making burp noises on his synthesizer. It's a gritty interpretation of how people will be devoted to stars and celebrities, believing they truly know them regardless of the (often harsh) reality. His opponent is the fascist principal determined to ruin the life of Ferris forever, imagining a homeless, dying Ferris in the future, thinking back on Mr. Rooney and how right he was. Talk about the principal being a toxic sociopath!

So, that's my interpretation of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Source: I've rewatched it at least a dozen times and discovered something new every time.

 

I watched Sixteen Candles last night and enjoyed it just as much as every other time. I still think its the funniest of the bunch. Man, John Cusack looks so young in it. And I forgot Jami Gertz was in it as one of Caroline's friends.

 

Good take on the light hearted poking fun nature of Ferris. It is different than all other teen movies, not just Hughes films. Which I’ve been trying to get across, but a lot of viewers take it too realistically. So many great scenes - and love the dynamic between Jeannie and Ferris. The sibling rivalry parody is hilarious. To not see it for the light hearted parody that it is misses the point completely. And it’s not just Ferris. The principal breaking into his student’s home???? The high school teacher Ben Stein’s repetitious monotone voice with no enthusiasm? The complete lack of respect for all authority figures in the film (and it’s not just Ferris)? Great movie and a classic.

 

That is missing the point of the film and a very reductionist/myopic view of the script and the characters in the film. The parody post above was a good take. It is purposely going over the top in many scenes for a reason.

 

Exactly how I see it as well - the chemistry between these two truly steals every scene

 

Whatever point Hughes wanted to make, we're still supposed to like Ferris.

Whether or not one views it as a parody or just an exaggerated view of HS and not necessarily social commentary, FB's charm still is supposed to resonate.

This isn't a movie that paints its lead as beloved in an ironic way. Sure, it exaggerates FB's "big man on campus" vibe but it's not supposed to imply that the characters are fools because they like FB...

 

Succeed at what, exactly? Here's a poser: why did Ferris take the day off? It's the central point of the whole film.

 

To succeed at avoiding getting caught on his day off! And to succeed at getting everyone to do his bidding!

 

He was trying to help out Cameron. He insists Cameron comes along, although the only thing he forces him to help out with is the fake phone call to the principal.

Think about it, if he was a selfish jerk he would have just taken his girlfriend along. He was trying to get Cameron out of his bubble, and to break free from his domineering parents.

 

I disagree that FB was that selfless. He really really really wanted to drive Cameron's dad's car.

FB and Cameron were best pals. If he wanted to "get Cameron out of his bubble", he could've done that many times over the years.

Funny how his selfless desire to help his dad break free from his "bubble" happened to be accompanied by the unauthorized use of his buddy's dad's hot car!