Throwback Thursday- The Breakfast Club

Logline: Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.

Cast: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall

Directed by: John Hughes

 

First of all, I'd like to say that I was shocked and saddened by the death of Michael Clarke Duncan. May he Rest in Peace - he will be missed.

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Without further ado, another Throwback Thursday. For those who didn't already know, John Hughes was an absolute legend in the film industry. Planes, Trains and Automobiles, National Lampoon's Vaction, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Buehler's Day Off, Uncle Buck, Home Alone, and seriously, the list goes on. I said I was going to start making my Throwback Thursdays more "throwback-ish" and so far I've chosen a movie from '84 and now '85.

Summary

I really can't describe this movie any better than the logline. Pretty odd that I can't, but try it yourself and you'll see.

Review

This is definitely one of the most weird movies I've ever had to tackle. I'd maybe even say harder than The Tree of Life because I'm without the reasoning of it not being considered a movie per say. The Breakfast Club's structure really is one-of-a-kind, relying heavily on charm, dialogue, and reality to push the story forward and keep audience interested.

Every week I always talk about how films should always be paced well; How you can't keep the same stakes all movie expecting to keep an audience interested. There also needs to be some kind of urgency to make a movie work. The Breakfast Club takes all of my thoughts on film and throws them out the window and says the hell with that. The students are to write an essay to principal Vernon by the end of their 8 hour detention... normally I'd say, well, who cares if they do? I don't need to point out how low the stakes are, how weak the urgency is. If they don't complete the essay then they get detention again, BIG DEAL.

This film isn't really about telling a story - it's about telling the stories of these students in their own way, with having the bigger picture and social standards of high school laid out on the table with nothing to hide. It's about forcing the jock to talk to the criminal for eight hours, the pretty girl to talk to the geek, the weird girl who never talks to finally communicate. Imagine these school stereotypes all thrown together in one room with nowhere to go and nothing to do but write a simple essay that no one wants to do anyway. It's a pretty sweet concept and the movie rides it to the finish line while diving into the many problems teenagers deal with and the standards set by society.

So although The Breakfast Club­ doesn't follow standard storytelling, it's so unique and interesting that you can't miss it. It's very thought provoking and the situations are so true that the movie becomes quite emotional at times.

Topic of the Day

Having a film mean something.

Sometimes these films are exempt from basic storytelling because they're so thought provoking it can keep the audience's interest that way. In order to do so, a film needs to be filled with diverse characters with different backgrounds. The relationships, emotions, and everyday lives of the characters all have to be interesting and they need to drive the point of the movie forward while making sense of the grand scheme. Not many movies have ever done this well. If you look at The Breakfast Club, you'll notice that a lot of the same issues that were happening in it still happen today - and this was made in the '80s. Due to the fact that this is such a big topic, the film has plenty to work with and it drives the point home through playing with the emotions of each character through different conflicts within the group. This film is the pure harsh reality of teenage high school life and just by watching it and really thinking about, you'd become a better teenager. Not many movies can say that. Not many movies are that deep.

Consensus

The Breakfast Club hardly follows any of my structural knowledge, but instead maintains the audience's interest through the problematic thought provoking realities of teenage life. It's also quite comical and, unlike Ghostbusters, is a timely classic - meaning most of the content in it is still relevant today. This is one of my favourite movies and I've watched it probably 5-7 times now. Definitely a classic from one of the most legendary comedy director/writers in the business.

9.5/10