...funny, satiric, bright, and inventive, sagging around the two-thirds mark but coming through with an exhilarating finish.
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Note: In the following joint review, both John and Justin wrote up their comments on the movie, with John also writing up the Video, Audio, Extras, and Parting Thoughts.
The Film According to John:
The thing about "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" from a retired high school English teacher's point of view is that if kids are going to cut, I wish they'd do it the way Ferris did it. I mean, do it right, for heaven's sake!
"This is my ninth sick day this semester. It's pretty tough coming up with new illnesses. If I go for ten, I'm probably going to have to barf up a lung, so I better make this one count." --Ferris Bueller
Paramount, knowing a good thing when they see it, have released "Ferris" in a number of different editions over the years, this latest release being a part of their "I Love the 80's" collection. The 1986 picture gets new packaging and comes with a CD of 80s' music. Otherwise, it's the same old, which if you don't have it is still a must.
Matthew Broderick plays Ferris Bueller, a teenage con artist supreme, a fellow who knows how to manipulate people and the world around him for maximum personal benefit. Not that he's manipulative in a bad way, though. He doesn't try to cheat anyone. Indeed, he tries hard to make the lives of those around him happier, at least those who will accept his help. His sister, played by Jennifer Grey, is one of only two people in the film who knows Ferris for the con man he is, and she can't stand it. She's envious. She can't bear that he's getting away with something she can't get away with, or is too afraid to try.
John Hughes wrote and directed "Ferris Bueller," a movie that is funny, satiric, bright, and inventive, sagging around the two-thirds mark but coming through with an exhilarating finish. Hughes practically owned the 80's, with movies like "Sixteen Candles," The Breakfast Club," "Weird Science," "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," and "Uncle Buck." "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was the high-water mark of his career.
The story follows Ferris's adventures one school day in the spring of his senior year when he decides enough is enough, he needs a break (another break). He must cut. But he needs accomplices, so he talks his cheerleader girlfriend, Sloane, played by Mia Sara, and his hypochondriac best friend, Cameron, played by Alan Ruck, to go along with him. Cameron is in special need of Ferris's help; his ego is at an all-time low. They make their escape from suburbia to the big city, Chicago, in Cameron's father's pride and joy, a bright red 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider, a car the father loves more than life itself.
Leaving school and their economics teacher, famously played by Ben Stein ("Anyone? Anyone?"), far behind, they set out on their escapades. They visit the world's tallest building; stop in on the Stock Exchange; eat lunch at a snobby restaurant; attend a big-league baseball game; go to an art museum; and sing and dance in a street parade, which features the movie's showstopping production numbers, Ferris lip-synching to Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen" and the Beatles' "Twist and Shout."
Some of the movie's funniest characters, however, appear in supporting roles, such as Mr. Rooney, the school's principal played by Jeffrey Jones, who, like Ferris's sister, suspects Ferris is getting away with something and is determined to catch him in the act, pursuing Ferris all over town, always one step behind. Then, too, we find Charlie Sheen as a laid-back delinquent in a police station, Richard Edson as a parking-garage attendant, Edie McClurg as Mr. Rooney's secretary, and Jonathan Schmock as a snooty maitre d' all contributing to the fun.
The film is rated PG-13 for periodic profanity, but I hope that triviality doesn't stop anybody from enjoying it.
John's film rating: 8/10
The Film According to Justin:
Who would have ever thought I would find a movie that centers around an admittedly ingenious slacker who breaks the fourth wall and converses directly with the audience entertaining. The problem is that Matthew Broderick as the titular Ferris Bueller is just so damned affable that you can't help but fall in love with him. He's the kind of kid that everyone wanted to have as a friend in high school, despite being an utter deviant. As John said in his review, when Ferris cuts school he does it right.
He's missed eight days of school during the course of his senior year and Ferris is determined to make his ninth one to remember. After faking out his parents, Ferris has to concoct a plan to spring his best girl, Sloane (Mia Sara), and live it up in the Windy City. To do so, Ferris needs his best friend, who also happens to be (legitimately) missing school due to illness, Cameron (Alan Ruck). You see, Ferris is without transport, and he relies on his pal to get about. And they do it in style, in Cameron's father's pretty red Ferrari.
Ferris and his crew do, indeed, make the most of their time together. They scam their way into a snooty restaurant, scale the Sears Tower, catch a Cubs game, and interlope on a parade. But it's not all roses as there are forces conspiring to bring Ferris to justice, including the school principal Mr. Rooney (Jeffery Jones) and Ferris's jealous sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey). Their misadventures in attempting to catch Ferris in the act of skipping school account for about a third of the movie. Similarly, Ferris has some near misses with his mother and father out in the city.
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[release]24378[/release]