FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF. Directed and written by John Hughes; produced by John Hughes and Tom Jacobson for Paramount. Starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck and Jeffrey Jones. Rated PG-13 (language).
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Ah, the silly summer season is fully upon us. Fortunately for us moviegoers, silliness can sometimes be entertaining. And Ferris Bueller is sometimes—actually, most of the time—entertaining, as well as being quite silly. A perfect summer movie.
Ferris (Broderick) is a high school senior with more on his mind and agenda than final exams and SAT scores. In fact, his opinion is that school and all that stuff can really get in the way of what life is all about, which is, having a good time.
So one fine spring morning, he expertly fools his parents into thinking he's sick (but not sick enough to require a doctor; there's a fine line there). Thus free from school for a day, he proceeds to live it up in and around Chicago. Along with his best girl and his best friend, whether they want to join in the truancy or not.
Ferris Bueller is a clever movie, almost to the point of being gimmicky. Ferris addresses the audience often with miscellaneous comments. Sometimes, he just grins or winks at us to make a point. This sort of thing sometimes works in a movie, and sometimes it just seems stupid. A lot depends on the talent and charm of the actor asked to carry it off. Since Broderick has plenty of both, it works well here.
There are some other ways in which Ferris Bueller isn't a realistic movie, including scenes intended to be taken as exaggeration, or even fantasy. Some of these, like when we see "Save Ferris" signs all over town, work better than others. An example of overdone fantasy is a sequence where Ferris joins an ethnic pride parade and "belts out" lip-syncs of "Danke Schoen" and "Twist and Shout." The effect is upbeat and quite nice, but the scene goes on 'way too long. Whimsy such as this works better when applied lightly, like a dash of tabasco. Not laid on like a plate of jalapenos.
Most of the bits in the movie, though, are right on target. Like the slapstick scenes in which the school's hapless principal (Jones) tries to get the goods on Ferris. This poor man should realize that the deck is stacked against him. But he keeps on trying, with increasingly absurd, and increasingly amusing, results.
In spite of the fact that he doesn't look quite as high-schoolish now as he did in War Games, Broderick is a perfect Ferris. He handles being the center of our and the other characters' attention with a kind of unperturbed innocence. He is exactly right for this character, who is part real teenager, part leprechaun.
Good as Broderick is, though, he nearly has the show stolen from him by Ruck, who plays Ferris' very odd friend Cameron. Ruck has to grow on you for about half the movie. But by the end you'll be a fan. His face is amazing. You really never know what he's going to look like next—goofy, serious, sly, pathetic. Keep your eyes on this guy!
Ferris' girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) is pretty, but contributes little else to the trio's escapades. A good comedienne in this role would have made the movie even more fun.
There are obvious disadvantages to Ferris as a role model. But as a summer movie hero, he's terrific.
June 25, 1986