I can see why people thought it was great, but I didn't like that much of it

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2003)

This may contain spoilers.
Five high school students confined to the school library all day on a Saturday, told not to move or talk, and to write an essay, while a teacher kept the door open and listened from across the hall. Sounds boring. Fortunately, the students didn't obey. First Bender started misbehaving, and I thought his ranting and clowning around were going to be the best part. Then the other students joined in. One has to wonder where that teacher was during all of this and why he couldn't hear so much of what was going on. Eventually, he couldn't hear because he was in the basement looking through files trying to find dirt.
I didn't think Ally Sheedy was going to talk through the entire movie, or when she did talk, that she was going to be conservative with her words. Not so. But she was quite effective when she didn't talk. Judd Nelson was very good but some of his behavior went over the edge. I liked the funny parts, especially when the students managed to escape and run around the school. Even though I didn't care for the music, I liked watching them dance--especially Molly Ringwald. And I liked seeing them become friends when they were getting along. I could see why this movie was regarded so highly once the students started having deep discussions, though that didn't mean I liked that part. Overall, the movie focused too much on the unpleasantness in the students' lives that led to their behavior which got them punished. I didn't care for that. At least one good thing: I didn't have to hear the movie with all the bad language left in, and it appeared there was a lot of it.