A cult classic I have never connected with

Rating: 5/10 (24 February 2014)

I think it is safe to say that The Breakfast Club has become somewhat of a cult classic. It's hard to criticize a movie like this because it has been around for so long and continues to connect with audiences. I have just never been that audience.
It's a simple concept: five "different" kids attend an eight hour-long Saturday detention (sometimes it truly felt like eight hours to me). They all have their own stories, they tell each other and the viewer those stories, come to some kind of understanding of one another, and then leave. The film does succeed in its portrayal of the students. John Hughes seems to have a very good understanding of what goes on in the head of a high school student. The character of John Bender, played by Judd Nelson, does have serious problems, and should contact child services. The other characters really don't have as dire an issue, but to someone that age, it feels as though their universe is imploding.
The film is not very cinematic. It felt like there was very little thought behind the placement of the camera. Conversely, in a film like 12 Angry Men, which also basically takes place in one room, the camera-work has a voyeuristic quality, and the audience feels like they are peering into a forbidden world of life or death issues. There are also drastic changes in tone in The Breakfast Club, from scenes of serious drama, to over-the-top dance numbers.
The film's goal seems to be to move its audience and to teach the audience to take teenagers and their problems more seriously. It does succeed in moving me when I hear Brian Johnson's story about how he considered suicide. But then you realize he considered killing himself with a flare gunso basically, he was just doing that for attention, right?