Virgin Diaries: The Breakfast Club

Born in 1982, I was technically alive in a great era of many genres ranging from the cheap slasher movie explosion of the 80s to all the teen movies made by or inspired by John Hughes and his movie-making machine. Much to the chagrin of PBF though, there are several staples of the decade that I haven't yet seen. This is one of the movies.

High school is an interesting time for anyone. For most, you are thrown together for eight hours a day with a diverse group of people that you would never otherwise associate with. Some of these people you end up bonding with, others you wish would die in a fire at your earliest convenience. You are all held together by a common set of arbitrary rules and controls dictated by people who literally seem to hate your very existence. The Breakfast Club almost perfectly embodies these typical frustrations of an adolescent during four years of their life.

At the start of the film you have the five food groups of a high school: jocks, freaks, nerds, monarchy, and troublemakers. Certainly one would expect shenanigans of sorts when representative members of these groups come together for nine hours in a confined space. One of the things that struck me about writer and director John Hughes' film is how understated it is. If this movie were made today, there would certainly be an explosive fight between the conflicting class, an explosion, probably a full-on sex scene, and an ending with a nice little bow on it as the five youths go to a house and play XBox together. Instead, we have the teens pick on each other, play mind games, smoke some pot, but mostly sit and talk and work through their individual and collective problems. This actually reminded me of 12 Angry Men in this aspect.


Helping the movie greatly are the five great actors, whom sadly seem to have dropped off the radar recently. Judd Nelson (admittedly looking a bit old to play a high school student) steals the show with his over-the-top, asshat approach to other people, school, and life in general. As much as I was expecting his character to have dropped his misanthropic views at the conclusion of the day, I am happy that his transformation was more natural and did not have his character shedding a tear at the end while embracing his new friends. Molly Ringwald certainly looked the part of that stuck up girl who vowed to go an entire school year without wearing the same outfit twice. Ally Sheedy played the neurotic girl perfectly that made you wonder if she was really crazy or just wanted to act that way to avoid anyone else's BS. Anthony Michael Hall, who only looked to be about 14 in this, embodied the scrawny type of kid who probably skipped a grade or two and has panic attacks at an A- on a test. Of course, Emilio Estevez looked like the kind of guy who would be sticking Anthony Michael Hall in a trashcan on a semi-regular basis.

Prior to actually watching the movie, the closest experience I ever got was from watching Not Another Teen Movie which featured several scenes parodying Breakfast Club and even featured Paul Gleason reprising his role as Dick Vernon. Principal Vernon at times almost seems to be Bender twenty years later, someone who still despises people, but is only more tolerable because he's the one in charge now and he makes $31,000 a year. I believe this is why the exchange between Vernon and Bender is so fluid as Vernon was on the other side at one point, accepting months worth of Saturday detention leading to Bender's brazen outburst of "FUCK YOU" after Vernon leaves the library.

As a whole, there were only a few parts of the movie I took issue with. The biggest problem I had was with the character of Andy. It seems like in all the movies of this ilk, the star jock never seems to be happy. Sure, he (or she although I can't think of any with a female tortured jock) has the popularity, the talent, and the bright future but the pressure from the parents and the coach are too much. Rarely do you see a teen movie with a cocky kid, drunk with celebrity from his peers, loving his life and enjoying spitting in other people's faces. The latter is the more accurate depiction of star athletes from my school but this is understandably not my life portrayed here. The other minor quibble, which is more of an aging problem, is some of the outdated dialogue including classics such as "Eat my Shorts" and "Sue Me." Not that this detracts from the story itself, but without these anachronisms and some of the clothing, the film could have taken place in the 80s, 90s, or today.

All in all, I am rather sad that I've waited so long to enjoy this nice tall glass of John Hughes brand teen angst. While I have seen some of Hughes' classics such as Ferris Bueller, National Lampoon's Vacation, and Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, I am behind the curve in his celebrated teenage category. This was a worthy excursion into his world and I just hope when I go to visit the rest of my oversights of his, such great characters wrapped in a tightly knit story will be waiting to take me on my first time.