The Breakfast Club: Review By moviegeek

John Hughes, the late director of many teen comedies like 'Sixteen Candles' and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' has always made movies about characters first, situations second. This is probably his weakest movie in amount of laughs. But quite possibly his strongest in emotion and reality.

Five kids sit in a school library for detention. We have the prom queen, Claire (Molly Ringwald), tough guy, Carl (Judd Nelson), the jock, Andrew (Emilio Estevez), the nerd, Brian (Anthony Michael Hall), and the shy, insecure Allison (Ally Sheedy). Each of them are there for 8 hours on Saturday for various, not-yet-disclosed reasons. Strictly in charge of them is a rough teacher (Paul Gleason).

One of the major challenges in this movie is that it all takes place in the course of one afternoon, in basically one location. Because of that, one poorly-written character, or one unconvincing setup could make this movie crumble. But with the mastery of Mr. Hughes, the movie does anything but that.

The Breakfast Club is probably the best movie I've seen in giving teenagers a voice of their own. As the movie expands and delves deeper and deeper into the characters present, we see that the names they have been given are nothing like who they are. In many teen movies, especially teen comedies, the nerd is only there to be an outcast, the jock is only there to miss a date because of 'the big game', or the prom queen is so superficial that she just is a bully. But what this screenplay does is allow the characters, each different in every way, to create bonds.

The movie toys with the predestined walls between the characters. At the beginning, the prom queen would never associate with the scoundrel, tough guy. The insecure nomad would never talk to anyone. But the stereotypes they are bound with begin to lose their security until we eventually see the raw emotion behind every one of them.

By the end, it is simply a movie with character talking and associating with each other. They make conversation, and in this, we see who they are are, or who they hope to become. They are faced with pressures from the parents to be strong, or their friends to be cool, or their teachers to succeed, but for once, this is a movie that shows what these teens want for themselves.

I loved the simplicity and vulnerability of the movie. From its most tender scenes to its most raw and brutal, we are seeing not just acting, not just characters, but people.

My one big problem with the movie, however, were the adult figures. There is the teacher and a point where we see his true colors, nothing of which adds anything to the movie. There is also a janitor who, for some strange reason, is even in this movie?? Neither of these characters have value or resonance in the picture. Instead, they tend to slow it down.

But the kids are terrific. The actors are really great in the movie as well. John Hughes recognizes that the simplest of moments can also be the moments where a movie can grow the most. While not hilarious like some of his other works, The Breakfast Club does has its moments of laughter. But deeper than that, it has a heart a reality, and for that, it is a great film.