The Breakfast Club
National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.
What critics thought
John Hughes's single-location teen drama earned genuine admiration for its emotional honesty and the chemistry of its young cast, but divided critics on whether its confessional structure felt authentic or contrived — some found the forced intimacy fraudulent, and others thought the characters had nothing intelligent to say beneath the surface sincerity. Retrospective opinion has softened the harsher verdicts, though few claim it as a great film outright.
“it has a candor that is unexpected and refreshing in a sea of too-often generic teen-themed films. The material is a little talky (albeit not in a way that will cause anyone to confuse it with something by Éric Rohmer), but it's hard not to be drawn into the world of these characters.”
James Berardinelli·Reelviews
“The five young stars would have mixed well even without the fraudulent encounter-group candor towards which The Breakfast Club forces them. Mr. Hughes, having thought up the characters and simply flung them together, should have left well enough alone.”
Janet Maslin·The New York Times
“This confessional formula has worked in films as different as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Big Chill, and My Dinner with Andre and it works here too. It works especially well in The Breakfast Club because we keep waiting for the film to break out of its claustrophobic set and give us a typical teenage movie sex-or-violence scene. That doesn't happen, much to our delight.”
Gene Siskel·Chicago Tribune
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorJohn Hughes
StarringEmilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy
ComposerKeith Forsey
The Breakfast Club
National Film Registry
Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.
What critics thought
John Hughes's single-location teen drama earned genuine admiration for its emotional honesty and the chemistry of its young cast, but divided critics on whether its confessional structure felt authentic or contrived — some found the forced intimacy fraudulent, and others thought the characters had nothing intelligent to say beneath the surface sincerity. Retrospective opinion has softened the harsher verdicts, though few claim it as a great film outright.
“it has a candor that is unexpected and refreshing in a sea of too-often generic teen-themed films. The material is a little talky (albeit not in a way that will cause anyone to confuse it with something by Éric Rohmer), but it's hard not to be drawn into the world of these characters.”
James Berardinelli·Reelviews
“The five young stars would have mixed well even without the fraudulent encounter-group candor towards which The Breakfast Club forces them. Mr. Hughes, having thought up the characters and simply flung them together, should have left well enough alone.”
Janet Maslin·The New York Times
“This confessional formula has worked in films as different as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Big Chill, and My Dinner with Andre and it works here too. It works especially well in The Breakfast Club because we keep waiting for the film to break out of its claustrophobic set and give us a typical teenage movie sex-or-violence scene. That doesn't happen, much to our delight.”
Gene Siskel·Chicago Tribune
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorJohn Hughes
StarringEmilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy
ComposerKeith Forsey
Rent/Purchase