The Breakfast Club
In a similar vein to another 80s film I'd seen in the last few months - Porky's - The Breakfast Club is yet another film which was on that list of 'cult classics I still hadn't seen'. Whilst Porky's was an 80s version of American Pie, with actual front nudity, The Breakfast Club is a film which disguises a surprisingly in-depth microcosmic analysis of societal change in amongst a fairly jovial and extremely enjoyable fare about the misgivings and general japery of American High School.
With Emilio Estevez (son of Martin Sheen) starring alongside a young cast of relative unknowns, the film takes place exclusively during Saturday detention, inside the various High School locales. The five individuals seemingly cover the typical stereotypes which make up the typical High School experience, but as the film unfolds and the characters start to unravel their inner thoughts, it becomes clear that whilst High School is a cotton wool form of real life, it also holds within it a genuine parallel to the reality and horrors of growing up.
What was truly surprising about The Breakfast Club is that beneath the aethetically pleasing initial layer of teenage grumpiness, rebellion and fairly basic stereotypes of the teenage years, there lies a raw, depressing and revelatory fable about how divided society really is. As the characters reveal their darkest thoughts and their biggest fears about their future, the audience is exposed to the notion of the teenage perspective on life, one which appears naive on the surface, but is actually worryingly close to the bone.
Whilst the acting leaves a lot to be desired, John Hughes nails the casting with Estevez as the charismatic (albeit brooding) lead role, and although the ending is as predictable as humanly possible, the final third is still engrossing, eye-opening and genuinely fantastic.
8/10
