Written and directed by John Hughes, The Breakfast Club is synonymous with the 1980's and being a portrayal of those awkward teenage years as you work your way through high school. It is often cited as one of the greatest high school movies of all time and in lists for the greatest films of all time including the Empire top 500 which I reviewed recently (I hadn't seen this movie at the time of writing that review).
The film follows a group of school kids who are forced into Saturday detention for various misdemeanours during the week. The five very different kids which are given nicknames based on what people see them as are the athlete/Andrew (Emilio Estevez), the criminal/John (Judd Nelson), the princess/Claire (Molly Ringwald), the brain/Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) and the basket-case/Allison (Ally Sheedy). They initially bicker once the teacher is gone about their differences but slowly begin to realise that they are all very similar.
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| The Breakfast Club |
Unfortunately certain films don't age that well (Twelve Monkeys being my prime example) and this falls into that category. Many of the characters are very cliché but obviously this wouldn't have been the case at the time. The idea of setting the whole film within the school and mainly the detention room is bold but the characters antagonising each other over their differences lasted too long without any real substance behind it. Judd Nelson as John is quite a transparent character which makes his story very predictable from the outset whilst Allison is pretty much a redundant character to the film.
The music is classic 80's and that isn't a bad thing as "Don't you (forget about me)" by Simple Minds is played at the beginning and end of the movie which seemed a very apt song given what is discussed during the film. The finale nicely ties the film together as the kids realise that this wasn't just another detention but it's just a long time coming.
2/4 emotional and warm finale but the characters are irritating and clichéd for too long
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