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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Director: John Hughes

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2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Ferris (Broderick) is a boy who gets anything he wants, screws over anyone who gets in his way, and gets patted on the back for doing so. Gathering his best friend (Ruck) and his best girlfriend (Sara), he skips school for the day out in Chicago. Hughes revels in Ferris' ingenuity, then neatly adds dimension after a ninety-minute parade of hubris and material wealth by telling us that people count more than their possessions. Ferris is an admittedly entertaining, at times delightful fellow. How unfortunate that no one got to wring the little bastard's neck.

Author: SGo 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

HarWoodrow said...

Posted on Sep 26 2009 11:52 Vapid? Like your brain. IT IS A COMEDY! WAKE UP MORON!

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Mikey G said...

Posted on Apr 26 2008 21:22 It's a quiet Saturday night, and I've just finished watching "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Frankly, it was a bizarre experience. I know that teen tastes are more changeable than most with the passage of time, but "Ferris" just left me completely nonplussed. It isn't tragic or funny. There's precious little plot (boy, best friend and girlfriend take the day off school and muck about, teacher tries to catch them but fails, and that's literally it) and the characterization is non-existent (Ferris is lucky - which is a circumstance, not a character trait - his friend is uptight, and his sister's angry at his good fortune, and that's literally it). The acting is particularly abysmal - especially from Mia Sara, who plays Ferris's girlfriend. She delivers her lines deadpan and stares vaguely into the middle distance throughout - she could be contemplating love, homework, the possibility of interplanetary space travel or haemmorhoids for all we know.
Weirdest of all is the complete lack of any moral compass or message - Ferris, who has rich parents and friends, stands for absolutely nothing apart from "taking it easy"; he's not even rebelling against anything. All he does is skip school, go to a museum, have lunch in a fancy restaurant, lounge around in a hot tub and sing a couple of karaoke numbers at a parade, then get back in time for tea. He doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs, and he fully intends to graduate and go to college. His actions have no consequences (and we're not shown what becomes of his hapless friend who has trashed his dad's priceless Ferrari) - but more importantly, they don't seem to have any purpose either; nothing is achieved, none of the characters learn anything. And the message is supposed to be "par-taaay", then frankly I think I'd have more fun at a meeting of our local traffic management planning committee. Am I missing something deep,or is it just completely vapid?

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