'The Breakfast Club' review by Captain Raptor

'The Breakfast Club' review by Captain Raptor

Due to the upcoming remakes of Evil Dead and Robocop, I've recently taken it upon myself to get to grips with other classic 80's movies. Perhaps the most quintessential film of the 1980's is John Hughes' The Breakfast Club, watermarked by its Human League soundtrack, casual use of homophobic slurs and references to Barry Manilow. This film marks the pinnacle of my voyage into a decade of leg warmers and Rubik's Cubes. 

A lot about the film is incredibly simple: there's no complicated cinematography, the plot is essentially 'five people go to a room', and the characters are deliberately stereotyped. However none of this is detrimental towards the film in any manner as Hughes has chosen to make the film about dialogue and emotion rather than storytelling. The five teens that comprise the titular Breakfast Club are 5 high school stereotypes (The Jock, The Beauty, The Geek, The Recluse and The Rebel) to which everybody should relate to at least one of, and it's remarkable the way the in which film seamlessly develops from having the five sit in silent contempt of each other to bearing their heart and soul completely. It's a great teenage movie, championing the idiocy and individuality found in adolescents, and the film comes to an emotional climax that simply involves the five characters sitting in a circle and being completely honest about their feelings towards themselves and their parents. The corniness of the film's message that deep down we are all alike is overruled by the intelligence and surprise with which it is revealed, as seemingly socially harmonious individuals show astounding insecurities and people whose problems appear to be minor are shown to be a worthy of sympathy as anybody else. 

The film's sense of drama and emotion lends it a lot of credit and is done to near perfection by a superb script and cast. The comedy doesn't quite reach the same high level, particularly in the earliest stages of the film, but there are funny moments, mostly provided by the kooky goth Allison (Ally Sheedy) and socially inept nerd Brian (Anthony Michael Hall, playing the same role he always did in those days). Even when its not funny, the dialogue is still entertaining, littered with hints about the backstories and lives of the wonderfully developed and realised characters. My only real problem with the film is the damp squib of an ending, which despite a touching voice over by Brian feels a little anti-climatic - after an hour and a half of arguing and bonding, I don't feel the ending has any real sense of closure, but I suppose leaving me wanting more is a sign of the film's success. My other irritation (skip to the last paragraph to avoid spoilers) is that while most of the characters learn a lesson of accepting others and being proud of themselves, poor gothic Allison's resolution is to completely change her appearance and attitude to win the affection of another, which comes across as 'Oh, we're all good people really. Except you. You have to change' which would seem to be an exercise in self-defeat in relation to the message of the film.

The Breakfast Club contains so much 80's culture that it should feel alienating, but the story of teens lacking self-confidence is so universal that it resonates just as strongly in the modern world as it did back in the day. There's some laughs, and a few tragic implications, but the main thing I've taken away from this genuinely beautiful and moving film is that we're all the same on the inside. That and some awesome dance moves.