The Breakfast Club

Although I've heard allusions to this now iconic film in more than one movie or TV show episode, it's only now, almost forty years after its premiere, that I got to The Breakfast Club. I was honestly expecting a more comedic piece, but after watching it I have to say that despite more than one humorous and light-hearted scene, John Hughes's film has quite a serious edge to it. In real life, this story, taking place over a few hours, would probably play out differently, yet the film ultimately appealed to me. For an hour and a half, we follow a group of seemingly disparate people who are united (literally bonded) by shared family and personal traumas. From quite banal problems, the plot slowly spills over into truly dense levels, but the film does not forget to be funny at the same time. A bonus is the theme song “Don't You (Forget About Me)”. (06/25/2023)

I get what John Hughes was trying to say, and especially given the punchline, I won't fault the film for the fact that the main characters represent well-known (not only) American high school stereotypes... But if I hadn't been so bored watching their dialogue and monologues, I would have been at least one star happier. (04/13/2020)

An original premise – one Saturday, the movie fills a single classroom with five completely different people who are characterized by exactly what they are; so a nerd, a jock, a wannabe gothic, a princess and a crook. They all hate each other and they all become friends in the end. A classic that interestingly hints at its era, young people and their opinions, which do not differ from what our generation went through years ago in many respects. (01/25/2016)

At times I thought it was a bit naive, an "old man's" (which John Hughes was definitely not) view of teenage life, but on the other hand I would carve some of the statements and ideas in stone. Certainly the mental processes of teenagers stemming from the traumatic "despotic father vs. son" relationship was hit perfectly by Hughes, the unusual comedic exaggeration was surprisingly fine considering the seriousness of the topic, the light hinting of sexual themes was amusing, the five completely different characters complemented each other perfectly and it just flowed very nicely. A very nice film and a well-deserved major overseas cult following. (02/18/2024)

Those archetypical characters have their justification in the film. Because nowhere else do you come close to the psychology of these figures. The Breakfast Club doesn't go extremely deep on this one, and even leaves a lot to the viewer's imagination (which in this case is a cop-out), but it surprisingly doesn't go to any extreme lengths to enrich the film with some pretty fresh humorous elements. Otherwise, I'd gladly pay two paychecks for the model they smoked there -) (12/05/2010)