Rather than spend the day in school, senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) hacks his school’s computer system to give his attendance record one more absence to take advantage of and still graduate. He drafts his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) to help spring Ferris’s girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) from school so the three can spend a day taking in all that downtown Chicago has to offer. Not everyone falls for the much beloved Ferris’s tricks though, as his sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) tries to expose her brother’s lies and the school principal (Jeffry Jones) seeks to finally catch his nemesis breaking the rules.
I think this film is the best piece of work by John Hughes because it is one of his most restrained films (despite its indulgence in all kinds of antics). There are certain elements that let you know if you are watching an 80s era John Hughes film. Is it a kind of coming-of-age film? Are most of the young people in it smart, aware, and blessed with plenty of witty dialogue? Is at least one of the young characters working through difficult parental relations issues? If all of these three ingredients are present, along with a catchy soundtrack, then you are probably watching a John Hughes film.
The interesting difference about this film is that Ferris doesn’t go through any formative changes. He’s the same person at the end of the film that he was at the beginning. He ends up with a better relationship with his sister and his friend Cameron but that’s because those two characters are the ones who change over the course of the film. His sister comes to terms with her disdain for Ferris on her own and Cameron decides to stand up for himself after minimal coaching from Ferris. What’s unusual is that these changes happen on the periphery; Cameron’s by a partial meltdown and Jeanie’s via a deep conversation with a punk in a police station. Usually, Hughes’s main character (or the main ensemble cast) goes through some kind of transition that slows the film down and adds a smarmy aw-shucks moment that is somewhat out of place with everything else.
Thanks to his sister’s turnaround though, Ferris manages to avoid taking responsibility for his actions, allowing his wink-and-a-nod lifestyle to continue into whatever future awaits him. Unlike most young adults, we never see Ferris facing the reality that he has to grow up, which makes us question if we can live in a similar spirited way. Does it give us hope that such an existence is possible as an adult? The message of the film is, to quote Ferris, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” To have that spoken to us by a character makes us wonder if we have been missing it. That’s a powerful takeaway from a teen comedy and one that has been exploited by inferior teen comedies ever since.
I think one of the things that help hold this film together is the decision to break the fourth wall. If Ferris was not allowed to talk to us and fill us in on his take on the things and people around him, he would not come across as a genuine person. Left in the confines of a strict third-person perspective, audiences would view Ferris as an obnoxious slacker who thinks he is enlightened and somehow superior to everyone else. Because Ferris is allowed to interact with us, and does so in such a welcoming and honest manner, audiences bond with him and get emotionally invested in what some would otherwise find to be an unlikeable character.
Matthew Broderick is another key ingredient to this film’s success. Broderick has a very every-man look to him that suits the needs of the character. If Ferris doesn’t look just right, the audience won’t buy in. Broderick looks like the kind of teenager who could float between groups. He’s not too attractive, too weird looking, too nerdy, too pompous, too muscular, or too skinny. But Broderick doesn’t just look the part; he acts the part perfectly. He somehow combines the sarcasm of a teenager, the wisdom of adulthood, and the warmth of a good friend into one person. If you’ve seen even just a few teen comedies, you know that this balance is rare.
I could be wrong in thinking this film is timeless. What does the current generation (aka high school and college students) think of this film? When I was a senior in college, this movie was still popular among freshmen but is that still the case? Sure, kids will probably enjoy the idea of taking a day off to do whatever they want, but will they appreciate more than just the concept of this film?
In this post-Occupy Wall Street era that we live in, can a spoiled, rich, know-it-all white kid from the posh suburbs serve as a protagonist and become a cultural icon? I doubt it and that leads me to believe that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off will lose a healthy percentage of its popularity with each successive generation. Most of that drop-off will be due to the fact that kids don’t pay attention to weekend movies on TV anymore and are growing up with little to no appreciation of what came before the cultural influences they view to be important.
Fortunately, there will always be a minority in each generation willing to look back at what influenced the present. Those lucky few will discover Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and be thankful that they did.
RATING: 4 out of 5
