As many of you may know, 80s teen flick auteur John Hughes passed away recently. In honor of this, I decided to show The Breakfast Club to my Film Club. I started the year with something light and teen oriented (Charlie Bartlett, more on that later) so as to get them going in the right direction with something that wasn't as heavy as, say, The Seventh Seal. The film is far from perfect and I don't agree with it being the ultimate high school movie, but it's cultural impact is still undeniable. Allow me to elaborate.
The film follows a Saturday in the lives of five high school students in detention. They're all from different cliques and don't really get along. Because of their locked-in circumstances, they're forced to interact and get to know each other. Throughout the day they manage to get behind the assigned personas of their cliques. If this sounds cliched, it's because this film practically started this trend in teen and coming-of-age movies. Even if the character labels are a tad obsolete and simplistic, the movie's intention is what's remarkable. The reason they simplify the characters into archetypes even as they attempt to remove their masks is that this way it's much easier to explore a wide range of topics.
On the acting front, I must say I didn't truly dislike anyone's performance, but I did feel some of them could've been done better. Chief among these is Molly Ringwald's Claire, who I just couldn't ever like. Ally Sheedy's Allison, however, nicely treads the line between Ringwald and Judd Nelson's overacting. Even if the message they send through her character in the end is atrocious, I enjoyed watching her go from quiet and insane one second to pathological lying and crazy dancing the next.
The movie succumbs to some of the 80s most dreadful film making mistakes (music video-esque montages, random exaggerations, etc.), but it manages to relay it's message somewhat convincingly. There are films I say could've been better, but weren't, and as such deserve no special consideration. This film on the other hand, is not one of those films. The film is not interesting for what it could've been, but for what it attempts to say. The message, not the product takes precedence here. Of course, the film makes mistakes regarding some of its messages (the aforementioned Allison storyline), but overall the script is not half-bad. Maybe I'm just removed from the generation that grew up with this film, but I still understand what it meant back then. Should this impact my verdict on the film?
Le verdict: **1/2
The film follows a Saturday in the lives of five high school students in detention. They're all from different cliques and don't really get along. Because of their locked-in circumstances, they're forced to interact and get to know each other. Throughout the day they manage to get behind the assigned personas of their cliques. If this sounds cliched, it's because this film practically started this trend in teen and coming-of-age movies. Even if the character labels are a tad obsolete and simplistic, the movie's intention is what's remarkable. The reason they simplify the characters into archetypes even as they attempt to remove their masks is that this way it's much easier to explore a wide range of topics.
On the acting front, I must say I didn't truly dislike anyone's performance, but I did feel some of them could've been done better. Chief among these is Molly Ringwald's Claire, who I just couldn't ever like. Ally Sheedy's Allison, however, nicely treads the line between Ringwald and Judd Nelson's overacting. Even if the message they send through her character in the end is atrocious, I enjoyed watching her go from quiet and insane one second to pathological lying and crazy dancing the next.
The movie succumbs to some of the 80s most dreadful film making mistakes (music video-esque montages, random exaggerations, etc.), but it manages to relay it's message somewhat convincingly. There are films I say could've been better, but weren't, and as such deserve no special consideration. This film on the other hand, is not one of those films. The film is not interesting for what it could've been, but for what it attempts to say. The message, not the product takes precedence here. Of course, the film makes mistakes regarding some of its messages (the aforementioned Allison storyline), but overall the script is not half-bad. Maybe I'm just removed from the generation that grew up with this film, but I still understand what it meant back then. Should this impact my verdict on the film?
Le verdict: **1/2
I've never liked The Breakfast Club that much, even after two viewings. I watched it with my English class last year (second viewing) and the general reception was extraordinarily positive. I still think it's dated and the message comes across as way too preachy. I didn't really care for any of the characters that much and I didn't like the ending at all.
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I can never get over the whole Ally Sheedy makeover thing. I hate the couples that get together in the end (Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald? Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy? NO NO NO!!!)
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Hm. Charlie Bartlett? Not a huge fan, but I did enjoy some of th eperformances in there. Personally, I would've started off the year with Rushmore...but that's just me :)
I think it's preachy too, but it's one of the only films I defend on the basis of what it was trying to be. And yes, the whole makeover thing is dreadful. I loved the performances and humor in Charlie Bartlett. I saw that and Nick and Norah's Inifite Playlist in quick succession and they renewed my hopes for the teen genre. Plus, Anton Yelchin; that's all I'm saying. There's a ton of movies I could've started with, but I have a somewhat limited catalogue at my disposal (i.e. a local, lackluster Blockbuster and the library catalogue at my school); hence the choices. I would've loved starting off with Rushmore or Election, or Rebel Without Cause; but they were all unavailable.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm so grateful for your loyal commenting!
omg the breakfast club :) I first saw this a couple of days ago and have been completely in love ever since. It's weird, cos I hate teen movies as a genre, and as far as I'm concerned, the 80s kinda sucked when it came to cinema, but this film was just brilliance. I think it is quite a personal film though, and it appeals to different people - bit of a love it or hate it film. I LOVED it though. so much :) xxx
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ReplyDeleteI think it's a personal film but it also speaks to that whole high-school-in-the-80s generation, so culturally speaking we're beyond it's zeitgeist moment. Maybe that's why many people can't really connect to it. It does have some good points, but the execution botches most of them.