The Breakfast Club

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2014)

Picture it, the quarterback and the captain of the cheerleading squad, the "ideal" high school couple or maybe the Student Council President and the Valedictorian. There are preconceived notions in high school that have to be maintained. Now let's throw in a plot twist; welcome to The Breakfast Club, it consists of a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Not your clichéd friends by any means, but this is who find themselves spending much unwanted time together. The Breakfast Club is a must-see movie that will send you back to the glory days of high school. We all lived it. We all knew these people. We all can relate. Five very different high school students, each representing their own typical group of the 80's, spend their Saturday in detention. With the common high school cliques being broken, the jock, the nerd, the glamour girl, the loner and the druggy are forced to coexist. As the movie progresses, the changes in plot demonstrate the typical stereotypes becoming broken. It is emphasized that the students aren't as different as they seem. They all have pressures from their home life and stressors at school. Throughout the day as they try to avoid their overbearing principal, the student's bonds strengthen due to the disintegrating stereotypes, to the point that they all end up leaving detention as one. Strong relationships are made and the people who are least likely to remain friends find relationships, as the students realize each other's personal problems tie them all together. The excellent acting in the movie allows the changes in stereotypes to reach full potential. Judd Nelson embodies Carl, the bad boy druggy, and owns the part. One moment he has you laughing, the next crying, and the next making you want to knock him square in the face. His mysterious trickery allows him to pull information out of his fellow classmates that most would, by no means, even consider asking. He encompasses the attitude associated with his character, haggling all of the other students and pushing the exact buttons to set them off. His physicality is superb; he becomes up close and personal, breaking respected bubbles. Whether he is arguing with the demanding principal or jamming out on the top of the sculpture in the library, he leaves you wanting more, discovering sides to him that you never knew existed. With many of the roles being very credible including parts played by Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, the principal, Paul Gleason, seemed to fall short in some scenes, especially during his argument with Nelson. When Nelson was questioning authority Gleason states, "I'm begging you, take a shot. Just one hit." This is a phrase that could be very intimidating, but the acting did not hold up to the line. The phrase could have been said with much more gusto and anger behind it, making the principal sound threatening; unfortunately there was no acting there to assist in his cause. Regardless, the stellar acting by the five students help make up for the principal, who only plays a supporting role in the movie. The leads did a fabulous job portraying their characters and owning their parts, stepping up to the plate and hitting a home run. With its fantastic plot line and characters, The Breakfast Club is a movie set apart from the rest. Yes, it is different, but different is good. It is a much needed change from your usual high-school aged movie. Due to its contradicting plot line of character portrayal, you won't want to stop watching. You will want to discover their story and how the students changed in their day-long adventure. Don't you forget about The Breakfast Club!