One of the best movies about teenagers

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2004)

It's hard for me to review a classic movie like this one. Even though it's not a perfect movie, it did an excellent job at explaining what being in high school is all about. I've been a child and a teenager in the 90's so I never had the chance to watch this great movie when it came out. I also had to endure all of the painful and unrealistic teen movies and soap operas of the 90's that were often set on glamorizing high school life or preaching to teenagers about serious topics such as teen pregnancy. I'm not saying that any of these movies or TV series were bad. They just weren't about teenagers. They were about models in their 20's who acted like idiots. Or they were written by adults in order to pass certain messages to teenagers.

What is so great about The Breakfast Club is that it brings to life many characters that are completely different. The "high school stereotypes" is something that's still present even today. The stereotypes might be a little different, but after watching this movie, we realize it was this way even in the 80's. This is an aspect of high school life that was never discussed in movies. As a teenager, when I first saw this movie, I immediately thought that it probably helped teens in the 80's understand their peers better. It can also help adults understand why teenagers can act certain ways.
But this movie does not preach to us. A proof of this is that the parents are accused for putting so much pressure on their children and making them become the stereotypes that they are now. In fact, all adults in this movie have a negative image, which is something I liked. In most modern teen TV series, there is always a teacher or a parental figure who makes the teenagers learn something. The adults are "always right". However, in real life, it's not necessarily like this. Parents and other adults can also be a negative influence to their children and sometimes mistreat them. John Hughes understood that.
It wasn't a perfect movie, of course. By example, certain scenes were silly and over the top, and the acting wasn't perfect. But isn't this what made the charm of this movie?