The coming-of-age classic where even the clichés and cornier elements contain shades of truth...

Rating: 8/10 (18 September 2017)

From Homer meeting Marge to the five high-school students' epiphany in "The Breakfast Club", it seems like only good things can happen during detention, it is probably true and now that I'm twice the age I was when I could live such opportunity, I can only mourn the incompleteness of my youth, desperately devoid of such heart- to-heart conversations that can make a difference over the course of one's life.
Yes, I wish I hadn't tried to avoid these situations like leper. See, I was the class brain and I could relate to the pressure endured by the character of Anthony Michael Hall, the obsession with marks, grade, the constant need to please the hierarchy whether in school or at home. And when I thought that maybe I could make a good comic-book drawer and live out of my passion, it was too late, I had lost all credibility in front of my papers, and I couldn't believe it myself. Only at the age of 35, I'm still recovering from unemployment, trying to reassemble the pieces of the puzzle and trying to achieve one tenth the dreams, or let's call them "the projects" I had.
Sorry I'm losing space for my own shenanigans, but retrospectively, thanks to "The Breakfast Club" 'or because of it, I realized that I didn't get the right advice and didn't enjoy the teenage years as it is supposed to be enjoyed. Of course, the movie doesn't imply that it is a time to be enjoyed, but most certainly to be cherished and embraced because this is exactly when you can figure out what kind of path you want to draw to your life. It's perhaps the most important moment in your life when you must learn to say "no". The five kids who get reunited in detention possess varying degree of strength and conviction, but the point of the film is that combining their forces together, they'll learn to say "no". I wish I could have the power to say "no".
And I still don't know whether I blame my parents or myself. This is quite well captured by John Hughes, this sort of in-between situation, the film doesn't necessarily put the blame on the parents but rather express in the youth' awkward way the resentment we have toward ourselves for not being capable to stand for our beliefs. That's what leaving childhood is about, stopping to behave like children and act according to your vision of things. Sure your parents "know better" but they know from their own experience, the point of life is to live your own experience. Besides, the film isn't entirely against the parents since it also questions the power of peer pressure and "friends". It's all about useless burdens that prevent you from being yourself, or trying to.
I don't like playing the labeling game although I'm aware this is what drove the writing but well, here it is there's Andrew the jock (Emilio Estevez), the wrestling champion who actually shares many similarities with the brain, Brian (Hall) both have parents pressuring them to be the best, to collect grades and points. Yet Andrew is handsome, good-looking capable to handle himself while Brian can't only perceive life under the prism of pleasing whoever provides the rating. He reminds me of Lisa Simpson's need to have a mark when the teachers were on strike. There's the pampered prom-queen, Claire (Molly Ringwald) she's rather open-minded, well- spoken but can't seem to get rid of her precious/prude image. Allison (Ally Sheedy), the other girl is the total opposite (Ally Sheedy) Gothic, making noises and acting as if she belonged to some institution.
The real catalysis of the communication process is the bad boy John Bender played by Judd Nelson, the guy is the authentic rebel and by teasing each one, gives enough rope to anyone to vent their anger, let the hearts talk and make the whole movie happen. His strong antagonism with the mean principal Vernon (Paul Gleason) escalates to a real personal hatred, which mirrors the problems he's got with his own abusive father. Granted it's not the most earthshaking revelation, but it seems interesting that the most confident of all the guys and the one who actually gets the "pretty girl" is the one with troubled parents. I don't know if Brian felt the way I did, but sometimes I wish I was more of a Nelson, you know tough guy toughened by life.
And you know why? Because you'll always have an excuse to behave like a thug, but never like a wimp. And girls hate wimps anyway. So for all the verbal abuse, Claire was victim of, she ended up giving him a tender hickey. And for all her attempts to pass as a weirdo, Ally surrendered to the call of femininity and after a makeup session with Claire, caught the eye of Andrew. And for all his gentleness and complicity with Ally, Brian was still a virgin at the end. You call them clichés? Not at all, the film highlight one important aspect of being a teen, a paradoxical need to conform to other norms than yours, all they need is a catalysis, some marijuana, some make up, anything, but while praising non-conformity, each one paradoxically conforms himself to another model.
The film isn't totally flawless, I don't care much about the actors looking too old for their parts since the message is more important than the messenger, I just wished the adults were portrayed in a more three-dimensional way and that the characters' arc didn't involve some clichés such as the ugly ducklings and girls love bad boys.
But even when it uses clichés, they're actually more truthful than pseudo messages about being yourself. The film works and when it doesn't, it still hit a chord of truth.