THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Directed and written by John Hughes; produced by Ned Tanen and John Hughes for Universal. Starring Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. Rated R (language).
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Seeing The Breakfast Club is a little like being a teenager again, for us over-30s, anyway. It reminds us how rugged that time of life is—problems with parents, school, sex, friends, you name it. But it has a big advantage over the reality: After the movie I went back to being my much more comfortable age, just a little frazzled from the experience.
The movie is essentially a group therapy session among five teenagers forced to spend a Saturday in detention. The camera rarely leaves the school library, where they are confined. And the handful of "outside" characters have very little to say or do. The kids start out hostile, especially John (Nelson). But they end up becoming friends. In spite of being superficially different "types," they discover they have quite a lot in common.
Given the physical and narrative confines, the pace occasionally drags a bit. But the fine acting and the usually witty script keep it moving surprisingly well. The performances are uniformly strong. Sheedy rates special mention, since she creates a completely different kind of character here than in her previous movies. The cute girlfriend from War Games is almost unrecognizable in the withdrawn, disturbed Allison of The Breakfast Club.
My main criticism of the movie involves the ending, which I won't give away. But I have to say it's a bit too satisfying, departing from the realism of the rest of the story. Hughes' last movie, 16 Candles, which also starred Ringwald and Hall, had the same problem with its conclusion. Although in a true comedy, like the earlier movie, a "fantasy" ending is easier to get away with.
There are also occasional lines of dialogue which sound somewhat unnatural, obviously inserted just to get a point across. But most of the kids' conversation has the ring of truth to it.
People who don't like movies that are all talk won't like The Breakfast Club. But it will be entertaining and enlightening for most teenagers (the ones who can get in past the R rating, that is).
I felt both nostalgic and apprehensive after seeing The Breakfast Club. Nostalgic for my own teenage years, and apprehensive about my next encounter with adolescence, which will be as a parent. Maybe when that time comes I'll be able to catch The Breakfast Club on video. I think seeing it might prove helpful on both sides of the generation gap.
February 27, 1985