So do we remember school positively or negatively?

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2005)

I am not someone who came of age in the '80s, so for me, movies like "The Breakfast Club" are mostly remnants of the past. Still, there is a reason that this movie is probably the best remembered of the teen movies from that era, and continues to impress people today. The plot of course has nasty principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) making five students do detention and write about why they got put on detention and what they think of it all. The students are jock Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), nerd Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), hoodlum John Bender (Judd Nelson), princess Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), and kook Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy).
As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that what these students did that led to their detention is almost immaterial. The important thing is their experience together. Bender holds some hostility towards Standish for her status, Johnson can figure out how to escape any situation, and Reynolds seems an outcast no matter what.
Maybe "The Breakfast Club" isn't the greatest movie ever made, but it remains a cultural artifact. It's worth seeing for what it is. Bender's cynical attitude might disturb some, but all that I can say is, some people are really like that.