Classic teen-angst from Hughes

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2001)

Though a little more in the sentimental comic-drama style of Pretty in Pink than an all-out comedy like Ferris Bueller or Sixteen Candles, this is Hughes at the very top of his form. Bringing together a gang of his regular favourites to play each of those stereotyped characters who fill all his classic teen movies, Hughes shows the horrible, cliquey, competitive us-against-them culture permeating American schoolkids, school systems, and by extension society as a whole. This masterpiece has everything from hilarious slapstick to terribly moving anguish, without ever straying outside the narrow confines of a few rooms and corridors and a handful of characters. Anyone who hasn't already seen it really should give it a go, and if US schools are still like this after all Hughes has done to portray them as breeding grounds of unhappiness, something really should be done.