Emilio Estevez

Judd Nelson

Molly Ringwald

Anthony Michael Hall

Ally Sheedy

Paul Gleason

John Kapelos

Perry Crawford

Mary Christian

Ron Dean

Tim Gamble

Fran Gargano

Mercedes Hall

John Hughes

Ned Tanen

Gil Friesen

Andrew Meyer

Marilyn Vance

Thomas Del Ruth

Dede Allen

Richard Hashimoto

James W. Miller

Nicholas Korda

Jennifer Polito

John J. Stephens

James R. Alexander

Daniel J. Leahy

Bob Forrest

John W. Corso

Charles L. Campbell

Jack M. Marino

Jim Kerr

Keith Forsey

Gary Chang

James Giovannetti Jr.

Linle White

Michelle Manning

Robert P. Cohen

Ron Walters

Jackie Burch

John C. Chulay

Jerry Stanford

Ted Whitfield

Marc Fambro

Danny Buck

Fredell Pogodin

Dorain Grusman

Chuck Neely

Nancy Frazen

Robyn Goldman

Robert L. Hoyt

Susan Vanderbeek

Greg Agalsoff

Larry Carow

Ross L. Kulma

Ben Beaird

John E. Therieau

Sly Lovegren

Paul Stanwyck

Richard C. Franklin

Kyle T. MacDowell

Donah Bassett

Henry M. Lebo

Aubrey Head

Scott K. Wallace

Comedy

Drama

The Breakfast Club

Universal Pictures

A&M Films

Channel Productions

United States of America

English

high school

coming of age

teen angst

detention

teenage rebellion

stereotype

1980s

teenager

Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/tCnm1BN1iAs

The brain, the athlete, the princess, the basket case, and the criminal - yes we’re talking about _The Breakfast Club_. It’s been dubbed as a seminal film of the 1980s and takes a place as an intergenerational classic. 

_They were five students with nothing in common, faced with spending a Saturday detention together in their high school library. At 7.00am they had nothing to say, but by 4.00pm they had bared their souls to each other and become The Breakfast Club._

Directed by John Hughes and starring Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, and Ally Sheedy it rightly deserves that spot as a revered movie. It's very much a comedy-drama and is surprisingly deep in parts, like the scene toward the end where they are all explaining what they did to get the detention. The acting is brilliant, and even though there is a very small cast, its basically the five members of The Breakfast Club and the Vice Principal, they hold your attention because they are so good.

What I particularly liked was how they took the standard college stereotypes and then slowly deconstructed them over the course of the movie, and showed that they actually all had a lot in common. They all had their loves and hates, their sensitivities, and the burden of expectation from their parents, the school, and society as a whole.

It's funny, it's sad, and by the time it concludes, it's quite uplifting, and if it's been a while since you saw it, it might be time to load it up for another look. If you've never seen it, then I suggest you check it out for a great time capsule of a movie that has themes that still resonate today.

_**Forced, artificial dialogs with eye-rolling character arcs**_

Released in 1985 and written & directed by John Hughes, "The Breakfast Club" is a teen dramedy about five high school students from five different sub-cultures during an all-day detention over the weekend at their suburban Chicago school. Molly Ringwald plays the popular girl, Emilio Estevez the jock, Anthony Michael Hall the Brainiac nerd, Judd Nelson the dope-smoking rebel and Ally Sheedy the neurotic misfit. Paul Gleason and John Kapelos are on hand as the host principal and janitor respectively

This movie has a big reputation as an 80's teen flick, but I was wholly disappointed. Most of the discussions between the five students from different cliques come across contrived and unconvincing. Some of the dialog is actually cringe-inducing.

The hoodlum could've worked as a character, like the Fonz or Vinnie Barbarino, but he's such an annoying, loud-mouthed jerk that he loses all sympathy, particularly when he verbally rapes the redhead on multiple occasions for no ostensible reason. *** SPOILER ALERT*** The fact that the two end up together at the end adds insult to injury. ***END SPOILER*** Not to mention two others that unrealistically couple up.

It's strange that "The Breakfast Club" is billed as a comedy because there's very little that's funny, although it's occasionally entertaining, like some of the music sequences. Unfortunately, Hughes wasn't into the heavier side of rock and so the soundtrack consists solely of bland 80's new wave bands, like his other 80's teen flicks (e.g. "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty in Pink" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"). Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of quality songs, like "We Are Not Alone" by Karla DeVito, but where are the heavier popular bands of 1984, like Van Halen, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Ratt, Dokken, Queensryche, Def Leppard, AC/DC or Motley Crue? Is it asking too much to have ONE song that actually rocks?

But the music is the least of the movie's problems (and isn't really a problem at all, except that there aren't any heavy tracks). The actors are fine, but Hughes' dialog is unconvincing. As such, you don't buy the characters. The script needed a serious rewrite.

The movie runs 97 minutes and was shot in the suburbs north of Chicago.

GRADE: C-

An absolute classic, and no mistake. If you disagree, sorry, you're wrong. John Hughes was an utter genius.

The Breakfast Club( 1985)

They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.

Overview

Top Billed Cast

Social

A review by SierraKiloBravo

Written by SierraKiloBravo on Tue Jun 30 2020

Media

Recommendations

Facts

Status

Original Language

Budget

Revenue

Keywords