Before all the slapstick, before re-writing "Home Alone" umpteen times and before selling his soul to "Disney Pictures Inc.", John Hughes was believed to be THE scribe for teen angst.
He wrote eloquently of it in "Sixteen Candles", "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink". And with "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", he creates a person and a time in life that just about anyone who's ever been a teenager can relate to.
Who hasn't known someone like Ferris Bueller (Broderick)? Someone who always has a plan, someone who made loafing off an art form, someone who could fall in a barrel of you-know-what and come out smelling like a rose?
All he wants to do is take a day off from school and enjoy the day in Chicago - simple enough, but he must also try and convince his best friend Cameron (Ruck) and his best girl (Sara) to join him and, in the process, learn to enjoy what life has to offer.
Naturally, there is a tyrannical school dean (Jones) who is determined to catch Ferris in the act of hookey and Ferris' own sister (Grey, pre-nose job) who has it in for her brother, the "trouser-snake".
There are funny situations throughout the movie, and the characters are ones that grow on you, especially Ruck's worry-wart portrayal of Cameron Frye, constantly fretting about his dystalic, cursing his father and nearly drowning in a pool, all in the name of friendship.
Sara has less to do, but she plays the object of desire well, and Ferris' passion for her is understandable. At least he thinks about the right things, like what their lives would be like after high school.
All the way from beginning to end, this movie is a great trip in search of fun, relaxation, not taking life too seriously and how to sing Wayne Newton songs in the middle of a parade.
You want to catch vintage John Hughes and classic '80s teendom at its best? Seize this "Day"!
Ten stars for "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".
