The Breakfast Club
In the critically acclaimed 1985 John Hughes film, The
Breakfast Club, the plot is simple. A Jock, a popular girl, a geek, a thief,
and a burnout are all gathered together for a Saturday morning detention. While
there, through a series of seemingly dramatic revelations and confessions, they
realize that they are more alike than they thought. Despite a great cast,
interesting premise, and proven director, The Breakfast Club is a mediocre film
that loses itself after the first act.
The problem with the film is its lack of stakes. The first
act consists mostly of the different students sitting in relative silence with
John Bender, the local bad boy played masterfully by Judd Nelson, picking on
and making fun of everyone in the room. After the characters finally begin
interacting with each other, the movie turns into an almost full-fledged drama.
Each character reveals at least one major trauma or problem from their life in
an exaggerated fashion. These scenes are where the great cast, consisting of
Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Anthony Michael Hall, really
gets to shine. Unfortunately, these intense moments and scenes are tarnished by
the inclusion of a Beverly Hills Cop - esque soundtrack that does not
compliment the tone of the film at all and the intermittent comedy centered
events that follow them. After learning some of these extremely dark situations
that their fellow detention mates are in, the group proceeds to, in no
particular order, sneak out of their holding room, smoke weed together, and
then dance around the library. It is also clear, due to a number of actions
taken by the characters towards the end of the film that they have changed only
a minimal amount, if at all, from the traumatic experiences and tumultuous
discussions that they had throughout the day. To see the characters, which
you barely get to know in the first act, recover so quickly from the sharing of
their emotional, mental, and family issues, in a way cancels out any sort of
personal connection or sense of empathy/sympathy you have formed with them. It
is also clear, due to a number of actions taken by the characters towards the
end of the film that they have changed only a minimal amount, if at all, from
the traumatic experiences and emotional discussions that they had throughout
the day.
The Breakfast Club is one case of a film in which the parts
are greater than its sum. It seems as though Hughes could not decide if he
wanted to be a comedy or a dark psychological drama. It has a number of
impressive scenes in both directions/genres, yet, as a mix of the two the film
fails. While it may have been great for its time, it now comes off as cliché,
stereotypical, and ingenuine.
5/10
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