In looking over John Hughes resume as a writer-director, it's obvious why it's easy to forget that he was once one of the better writer-director's in Hollywood. For the past decade he has largely been coasting, giving us crap like Flubber, 101 Dalmatians and Dutch as well as the good yet quite overrated Home Alone and its two sequels.

Yet back in the 1980s, Hughes was responsible for writing and directing some of the funniest (National Lampoon's Vacation) movies of the era as well as some of the most perceptive ones about young people (Some Kind Of Wonderful). One that combined the humor and the perception was his 1985 smash The Breakfast Club.

Now The Breakfast Club fell into that 80s menagerie of teen flick known as "The Brat Pack movies". Yet it is easily the most transcendent of all of them. While many of the other Brat Pack movies have become quite dated (St Elmo's Fire) The Breakfast Club is still fresh today, despite somewhat dated references and music selections.

What makes it transcend the genre so well is its accurate depiction of high school society. Never mind that the film was made in the 80s, the depiction of the class system in high school (Jock, Preppie, Outcast, Thug, Geek) is still relevant today and was still relevant when I was in high school from the mid to late 1990s. That may have something to do with why it was one of my favorite movies in high school.

Yet this is not just a movie for teenagers. The performances are all good: from Judd Nelson as the thug to Molly Ringwald as the Preppie. You also have Emilio Estevez as the Jock, Anthony Michael Hall as the geek and Ally Sheedy as the outcast. While none of these actors have had anything to do with anything really successful for the better part of a decade now, here they were at the top of their game and it shows.

The only actor who really goes over the top is Paul Gleason as the teacher who has been assigned to watch over these kids on their daylong Saturday detention. While he does bring the sadistic side of some certain teachers to life (Yes, such teachers do exist in real life. I've seen them first hand), he does have a tendency to go over the top at times. When he starts seriously pouring on the insults and claiming that he's doing society a favor, that's the only time when the movie comes dangerously close to going off the track of believability. While yes there are sadistic teachers out there, one that is the sadistic would not be teaching for very long. You half expect Gleason to start yelling "King Kong ain't got nothing on me!"

Another part that works quite well-and it has to work well- is the dialogue between the characters. The dialogue is quite spicy yet true to life. It never lapses into meaningless exposition yet it never becomes dumbed down. Much of it is quite funny as well, with the line from Nelson to Gleason that I used as the title as a prime example.

The Breakfast Club is one 80s Teen Movie that is not just an 80s teen movie. The themes are still relevant today, the characters are believable and both teenagers and adults (apart from sadistic teachers who raid Barry Manilow's wardrobe) will enjoy the movie.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS