I remember sitting in class freshman year, hearing about the magnificent masterpiece that is The Breakfast Club. Years later, I decided to see how great the movie was. I liked some 80s classics: Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Footloose, etc. Maybe I’d enjoy this classic, but after watching it, I wondered why The Breakfast Club is considered a classic at all.
The Breakfast Club was directed by John Hughes and released in 1985. Hughes had worked on films such as, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink (previously mentioned), Home Alone, Uncle Buck, and more.
This film grossed about 51.5 million dollars in international box office and about 45.9 million dollars in domestic box office. The budget was one million dollars.
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gave The Breakfast Club a 7.8/10 star rating, and the movie has descended to 722 on IMDb’s ”Most Popular Movies” list. The “Tomatometer” rating is 89 percent, and the “Audience Score” is 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The main characters are a group of teenagers that represent highschool stereotypes. As stated by the movie., Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez) is the “athlete,” Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) is the “brain”—Brian and brain, clever, I know—, Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) is the “princess,” John Bender (Judd Nelson) is the “criminal”—oh, yeah I get it now Bender because he bends the rules. good one you guys—, and Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) is the “basketcase”—cue Green Day.
Could The Breakfast Club be considered a classic because of this cast of “80s allstars”, or because it takes and runs with a simple concept of five high-schoolers connecting in detention? Maybe, but by looking at how the plot is formatted, this is not the workings of a classic.
The rest of this review contains a few movie spoilers. Read at your own discretion.
For starters, there is no real creative insight into the characters or their lives except at the beginning when Allison’s parents drop her off at detention and flat out ignore her. There are a few conversations between parents and their kids in the cars, but nothing super relevant to the later plot is revealed, other than how Andrew’s dad thinks that he’s still in highschool living out his glory days and a few quick and inartistic exchanges.
There was no underlying layer. Lines were flat out said with no creative storytelling. Throughout the movie, the kids would be like, “I’m damaged, these are my life problems, and that’s why I don’t like you.”
Some insightful character layers were present, such as what the teens ate for lunch, but other than that, there’s a lack of creative storytelling techniques.
There were awkward silences that seemed to serve no purpose and random endeavors taken that didn’t seem to connect to the other events in the movie. One minute, the kids are insulting each other, the other, they’re smoking weed, and the next, they’re having a dance party. Though some of the randomness was entertaining, the plot was boring, and it appeared there was no cause and effect to what was happening.
In the end some random couples get together, and I mean at the very end. There was a little conversing, not a lot of connection, and poof, they’re kissing in the parking lot. Of course the smart kid, Brian, is left with an essay at the end of the day and ends up with no girlfriend. Allison and Andrew end up together, and he only seems to like her when she wears a headband. Yes, there is some connection between them in the movie, but not enough for romance, though I’m simplifying here.
The one relationship I can’t understand is Claire and John. John violates Claire and continuously insults her, while Claire retorts back in hate. Suddenly poof, they end up together. If anything, I would have expected Andrew and Claire to end up together because they seem to have an established connection and respect each other. Andrew even stands up to John for her.
I will say that the soundtrack is fire and the camera crew used artistic angles quite well. I do see what they’re trying to do. It is applaudable trying to highlight how society should refrain from putting people in boxes based on their differences. The filmmakers attempted to appeal to the human condition of being different and how we can unite despite those differences.
The bare bricks of the storyline were the pieces that failed. The plot was spewed together like a seven year old trying to tell you a story from school– “and then, and then, this happened. Oh, but this other thing that has nothing to do with that thing also happened, and then everyone ended up eating jelly beans!”
You see what I mean? This is what ultimately made me rank this “classic” a 6.5/10.
