GREAT SELECTION: The Breakfast Club (1985)

At a high school in Chicago, on a Saturday morning, five different kids into a lonely building awaiting their punishment in a library. It does not sound like a very exciting concept on paper but in the hands of the late, great John Hughes, he can make standard teenage characters into developed, likable, flawed and well-rounded characters. It is Hughes' movie, because without his contribution, this movie would have been a mess or would not have taken off and would have stayed with its concept without getting to know who the characters are or why they are in detention on a Saturday.

Back in the 1980s, the trend was "teenage sex comedies" and by this day, we're still getting them but not as often but man, only one or two were actually good. My personal preferences were Risky Business and Animal House but I felt like that genre was getting dumber such as the Porky's movies and the Revenge of the Nerds movies. Sorry, except for some stand-out funny moments, I felt that the first one was a bit over-rated. That's when Hughes started to come in with intelligently written teenage characters, both male and female, who talk about the nature of the complications that are going on in their lives and in their households. Sixteen Candles was a good movie for sure, but I found The Breakfast Club to be more moving and deeply realized as they sort of grow up in a day in a location they should not be in but the punishment might have paid off.

Five students report at an all-day detention at Shermer High School. Each of them come from a different clique and have nothing of common. The people who are punished are: Claire (Molly Ringwald), a beautiful girl who is likable, Andrew (Emilio Estevez), a championed wrestler, Brian (Anthony Michael Hall), a smart and sophisticated student, Allison (Ally Sheedy), a reclusive bystander and the troublesome delinquent, John Bender (Judd Nelson). They all are under the watchful eye of assistant principal, Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason), who does not care much about the students or their attitudes. He is just there to do his job. He instructs them to write a 1,000-word essay as to who they think they are.

John, who has a hostile relationship with Vernon, always get into trouble by ignoring his rules, teasing Brian, getting under Andrew's nerves and harassing Claire. Allison is quiet for about half of the film, except for outbursting for a moment and then starts to communicate slowly with Andrew and the rest of the gang. The ongoing day gets more interesting as they all smoke pot, talking about what clubs they attend, their possible futures and their secrets. The stereotypes behind the characters devolves and the truth about themselves, not their egos, evolve with such emotion.

It is a short movie so that is why this in-depth GREAT SELECTION is not as long, however, the movie is a lot deeper when you think about who you are especially in that stage of high school but also translate who you are going to become once you are in college, a working adult, married and/or have children. What is going on behind their reputation or their egos? What is going on in their heads as their exterior feelings are a bit monotone but their interior feelings are a bit reclusive?

SPOILERS AHEAD as the characters reveal their secrets as to why they are going through a hard time in their lives. Claire's parents use her as an excuse to get by by arguing some more and also she has been a virgin all that time. Allison is a compulsive liar who is ignored by her parents constantly. Brian is under the constant pressure to get great grades consistently, which prompts to attempt suicide by using a flare gun. Andrew is under the pressure from his father to push himself harder in his wrestling. Bender is verbally and physically abused by his father, for example, he has a cigarette burn on his arm.

The long and emotional sequence in which they reveal their secrets and what's going on transfixes into the theme of struggle and expectations. They are all under constant pressure of becoming the perfect American teenager from their parent's eyes and also their teachers' expectations. Both parents and teachers have different season but the one conclusion they want to present is that they just want the children to be as successful as they prime, if only, better. But one problem: what is the "perfect" American teenager? Every teen has different natural abilities that become benefits to their legacies and to their futures. And, unfortunately, it could translate into their stereotypical egos that they want to get away from. They do not want to become titles.

All five actors give solid performances and become relatable and that is the correct word use because almost every teenager or young adult who watches this teen classic can relate from one point or another. Even though this is John Hughes' niche, he understands teenagers' human conditions and that's why this movie works on both a comic and dramatic level. I thought the romance, if I were to nitpick, was rushed a little. But, even though the teenagers do not want to accept as stereotypes, they sign in their required essay as stereotypes and form the title of the movie. They even have to accept that after the day is over, they have to move on to their lives with their different cliques. But, they will all remember that day in which The Breakfast Club had to serve Saturday detention.

(Note: Even though this is rated R, this is a perfectly fine film for high school teenagers to watch as to know what they may overcome, expect or avoid. This is a must-see flick and it holds up real well.)