A classic...in spite of itself

Rating: 8/10 (23 August 2006)

I'll fess up: I enjoy this movie. Or rather I should say, I enjoy the first half or so of this movie. As is typical of John Hughes 2-3 year golden period in the 80s, this movie kind of peters out for me about midway through, probably around the time they all get high. That said, I am under no illusions about the quality of this film. The cast, all young actors who became bastions of the decade's films but struggled outside of the eighties, are as laboured as ever in these stereotyped roles. Each one is, admittedly, being expected to play up to their 'title' in the movie to a certain degree. However, when given an emotional range to portray, each one of these kids flubs it (does anyone buy for a second the 'tender side' of Judd Nelson's character?). The direction is typical Hughes, for the time and beyond. It's hard to imagine he does much more than set up the camera and say 'Action!' most of the time, because those rare occasions he tries anything inventive it goes awry (e.g., the pan shot around the stoned circle that gets obscured for several seconds by the rail). But he's never needed to stretch his directorial muscle and nobody's ever wanted him to: we see his movies to be entertained by quirky, endearing characters, not to be stunned by his camera work. And that's what he does here. This is, likewise, a typical Hughes story. A group of kids are thrust together in an unlikely circumstance (in-school suspension is typical to teenhood, sure, but at least three of these kids effectively chose to be there). They find a little bit of themselves in each other, and vice versa. All come out (perhaps) changed by the experience. This is what Hughes does...or did, anyway: he designs likable characters, in spite of their flaws, who you want to see pull it together by the end of the film. We do, and they kind of do. I'd like to believe that it's just that this movie came out when I was their age that makes this a more poignant and precise picture of teenage mentality. I don't think, however, that there has been another movie that attempts to draw a broadly outlined picture of the teenage personality and does it sympathetically. Most teen pictures within the past 15 years do, of course, specialise in the broadly drawn characters...but you as a viewer are rarely expected to sympathise with any but the 'hero.' Unfortunately, this movie has grown extremely dated in the time since its release, and I'd be surprised if most teenagers today could find any reason to watch it. A shame, truly, because a film like this becomes a significant pop-cultural milestone for its generation, and every generation should have one.