A flawed, but often entertaining and insightful film

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2003)

OK, so I've said it many times, I'm tired of high school movies sticking with the stereotypical characters of the jock, the geek and so on and so on. That's why I appreciate a movie like "Ghost World," which breaks free from the stereotypes, concentrating on two social outcasts and portrays them as INTELLIGENT people who don't say "like" and "you know" in every sentence. But the characters of "The Breakfast Club," though forming from those stereotypes, aren't one-dimensional. Eventually, we all arrive at the truths of why the characters are the way they are.
Some of the efforts are heavy-handed (I doubt Judd Nelson's character would get so ticked off at someone's alleged insult that he climbs onto the spiral staircase like a monkey and curls up in a ball), but few films even attempt at getting to those truths. Each character is flawed in their own ways. Even the super-smart nice guy, played by Anthony Michael Hall, says a few things that shouldn't be said. Even the tough-as-nails, by-the-book teacher, played beautifully by Paul Gleason, has a few screws loose. At first I felt total sympathy for his character, but then I realized how condescending he was towards each of them and I said to myself, "Hey, two wrongs don't make a right." He'd bark at every one of the students, using a condescending nickname. There are teachers out there who feel their kids are so unruly that they have access to torcher them however they please. If I were in his position, I'd probably twist Judd Nelson's head off, but then again...I'm not planning on being a teacher. If you don't have patience for kids like that, you should consider a career change.
Nelson's character is disrespectful to everyone, but how is he supposed to be respectful to others, but when he himself was never given any respect? I was still very annoyed by his callous remarks, but to criticize someone's unruly behavior, you must first realize where that behavior stemmed from. The character who I didn't quite understand was Ally Sheedy's. I think hers was written with a little too heavy of a hand. How can she go from not saying a word (and I mean that literally) to being brave enough to look Molly Ringwald in the eye and ask if she's a virgin (as well bringing up many other provocative questions)? If you look at the transition from her in the beginning of the movie to her at the end, you think to yourself, "How did this happen?" What brought upon this change in character? She's walking down the hallway with Emilio Estevez to get some sodas, he asks her, "What's your poison?" and she just spontaneously blurts out, "Vodka," and explains how much she loves to drink? I was the quiet person in high school and I never went through a drastic change like that through the course of a day, though I certainly dreamed to.
"The Breakfast Club" has some dull moments and some that are downright silly, but altogether it's a funny and moving film. It may not be the deepest high school movie ever made, but it's certainly deeper than recent fluff flicks like "She's All That" and "Never Been Kissed." It's definitely worth a look. Plus, you gotta love that theme song..."Don't you...forget about me."
My score: 7 (out of 10)