A highly astute and affecting portrait of 80's adolescent angst

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2018)

Five distinctive teenage archetypes -- competitive jock Andrew Clark (an excellent and engaging performance by Emilio Estevez), surly rebel John Bender (an intense and volcanic portrayal by Judd Nelson), flaky misfit Allison Reynolds (a delightfully kooky turn by the adorable Ally Sheedy), stuck-up popular gal Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald at her most radiant and captivating), and gawky nerd Brian Johnson (ably played with depth and nuance by Anthony Michael Hall) -- are forced to spend detention together on a Saturday. During the course of the day the kids let their guards down and reveal their true selves to each other.
What makes this film so special, touching, and resonant is the smart and insightful way writer/director John Hughes sees beyond the restrictive superficial labels that society places on people in order to reveal that every one of these familiar teen "types" is actually a flawed and complicated warts'n'all human being. Moreover, Hughes not only firmly states that no one person easily fits into a simple one-word category, but also manages to see the intrinsic frailty and humanity of all the main characters: For example, Bender initially comes across as an obnoxious and antagonistic jerk, but ultimately gets exposed as the enraged, yet pitiable toxic product of an abusive and dysfunctional home life. The uniformly top-notch acting keeps this movie on track: The five leads all do sterling work, Paul Gleason breathes fire and finds the wounded resigned heart beating underneath the boiling anger of mean authoritarian principal Richard Vernon, and John Kapelos makes a nice favorable impression as easygoing janitor Carl. Worthy of its lofty status as a landmark 80's teen classic.