THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)

THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)

Tagline: They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.

(Drama, Comedy, People Yelling At Each Other) [R]

I never did it either. I'm not a nymphomaniac. I'm a compulsive liar.

This movie is about 5 kids who all end up in Saturday detention for various reasons. Each comes from a different background, and as the day moves on they get to know each other more and more. Truths get exposed, friendships get built and lives get changed. 

First off you would think this movie wouldn’t contain a single explosion, but it actually has two scenes where glass does effectively explode. One is the opening scene and another is for some bizarre reason when one of the characters just shouts so loud the glass breaks. 

Acting-wise, I do recall liking Emilio Estevez a bit in both YOUNG GUNS movies, but not much of anything else until THE MIGHTY DUCKS series came out. Ally Sheedy’s role in this movie better than either SHORT CIRCUIT or WAR GAMES, but outside of that, she hasn’t gotten my attention in anything else. Judd Nelson, I am not a huge fan of and actually really disliked him in this movie. He does some cool voice-over stuff for TRANSFORMERS animated projects though, so you can’t knock that. Ironically he was also the Headmaster in the movie BAD KIDS GO TO HELL which is essentially a movie kind of tries to be THE BREAKFAST CLUB if it were a horror movie. So he is essentially playing the character in that movie, that he kind of hates in this movie. Molly Ringwald plays a prom queen type girl named Claire in this. It is definitely one of her better performances ever. She is still very active in Hollywood as of 2021 and is probably better known today for her role on the TV show Riverdale. Anthony Michael Hall is good in this and I like a guy who can just keep plugging away at getting roles well past what some might have considered his “prime”. 

This movie is touted for its strong ideas and dialog. It’s probably one of the best and most honest teen relationship movies that came out in the ’80s. The central ideas that we are all people and we all have baggage that can be seen as serious are hard for us. Circumstances on an emotional level are relative to each person’s experience and reactions to their surroundings. This film captures that well giving us really diverse backgrounds for each character. I guess the reason they were even there was even ad-lib for the actors. 

Where this thing drops the ball is in the moments where it’s trying to be edgy. I guess there was plenty of pot in my high school growing up and plenty of kids dumb enough to use it, but in this movie, the scene feels almost completely out of place. Mainly because we already had open honest dialog well before that scene meaning the drug use for me felt just really forced. If they were looking for an edge, we also already had plenty of that. The expletives are flying around as much as the parmesan cheese falling from Allison’s hair. I could also make an argument that the movie as fluffy as they tried to make the ending still ends with one of the characters trying to change the other, and who knows if that is for the better or not. 

Overall this type of movie isn’t typically something I would be fond of, but it does what it set out to do. The dialog is intriguing throughout and it’s honest. As harsh and dark as some of the lines are, it provokes thoughts and feelings of growing up and trying to find your way. If anything, I am definitely not going to knock it down a few notches just because of the “privilege” accusations or whatever other issues today’s critics dish out. It's also got one of the more recognizable soundtracks of any '80s movie ever made.

For those reasons in spite of its issues, I have to give this movie a solid 6 out of 7. 

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