Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 comedy directed by John Hughes and starring Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck.
I have a pathological inability to watch this film if I’m not on a day off from work. It just doesn’t seem right.
Although this is not my favourite John Hughes film, it’s right up there with his best and I love so much about it it’s going to be hard not to endlessly gush in this write up. But I’ll do my best.
It’s in the capable hands of a writer/director who knows how to strike a good balance between comedy and pathos. Though it veers towards Utterly Ridiculous on several occasions, Hughes steers it back before it strays too far into that territory. He also, thankfully, didn’t make this a stoner comedy and didn’t have the main characters indulge in any teen sex, drugs and rock and roll bullshit that would have made the film tedious and dated it beyond any hope of it becoming the cult classic it is today. Ferris (Broderick), Sloane (Sara), and Cameron (Ruck) ditch school to go to a museum, for fuck’s sake. These are not delinquents we’re dealing with here.
Firstly, I love what rubes Ferris’ parents are. The opening scene where we see them coddling him in bed contains the film’s first hilarious moments. What I love about this scene is its inherent silliness; it’s obvious Ferris is faking illness, but his parents gulp down every syllable of the lie and do so in the cheesiest way possible. It really is joyful to watch.
Alan Ruck is terrific as Ferris’ best friend Cameron. I love his sterile house and his hypochondria. I love his meltdown in his car when he’s trying to convince himself to say ‘No’ to Ferris. And like so much of this movie, it’s filmed superbly. I like the way the camera remains in the car and we just see Cameron jumping up and down in frustration through the back window. It’s one of my favourite scenes.
And I love the scenes juxtaposing Ferris hanging out at home with the class he’s missing. The close ups of bored students struggling to stay awake and the monotonous drone of the teacher’s voice is great. But I especially love the end of the scene – we see Ferris dancing stupidly under a giant poster for ‘Simple Minds’.
The film has countless other great moments. I love that Ferris is actually a bit of an asshole. I love Jennifer Grey as his sister. My favourite bit with her is a throwaway moment that has me in hysterics every time I watch it. She’s at school, ticked off that Ferris gets away with everything when a guy walks past her rattling a can collecting donations for the ‘Save Ferris’ fund. I love the look of derision she gives him and the way she smacks the can out of his hand. It’s stupid slapstick but I love it.
I love the comic timing in the film – again, it’s filmed superbly. Like the way he steals the cab from under his Dad’s nose outside the restaurant. It’s a great piece of physical comedy. And soon afterwards, the double take his Dad does when he sees Ferris, Sloane and Cameron in the cab next to him. When he turns back for a second look, it’s just Sloane sitting there in dark sunglasses. It’s a moment that’s difficult to describe but it works brilliantly. Again, I think it’s just the incredible silliness of the scene that I find hilarious.
I’ll mention the ‘dance number’ only because, typically for me the scene everyone loves is actually the one scene in this film that I don’t like. Ferris jumps up on a parade float and lip syncs. It’s just too absurd. It comes out of nowhere and just seems out of place.
Thankfully, there’s way too much I enjoy in this film to care much about that small pothole. I think my favourite scene is where they go to the museum. I love the music throughout and the way they hold hands with the group of school kids. The whole scene has a really cool vibe to it and really makes you care about the characters. As I said before, these are not a bunch of silly twits ditching school to sit around smoking weed. They take the day off because sometimes life’s too short to sit in a classroom listening to someone drone on about Reagan-era economics.
100 minutes of a day off well spent.
