The Breakfast Club - Film Review

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The Breakfast Club (1985)

Wendy Fu

Movie Critic

“The Breakfast Club” might be one of the greatest R-Rated films of all time. Yes, they drop the f-bomb more than just a couple of times. Yes, they tastelessly smoke weed on-screen. And yes, Judd Nelson’s arrogant swaggering tough guy character sexually harasses Molly Ringwald’s prom queen character in a very raw way.

But they managed to nail it. You isolate a group of people in an enclosed school library, force them to come to the conclusion of talking to one another, and sooner than later they exchange dark truths about themselves and develop a new kind of understanding about each other. Emotional, humorous and sincere, ‘The Breakfast Club’ was a movie that hoped to dig a little deeper into the teenage minds, and set free a money-magnet that became one of the greatest 80’s movies ever created.

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The director, John Hughes begins the film with each of the five teenagers gathering at Shermer High School, on a Saturday morning for detention. He exploits the claustrophobia of a high school library, and the stereotypes announce themselves immediately: the Jock from the wrestling team (Emilio Estevez), the class Brain (Anthony Michael Hall), the Prom Queen (Molly Ringwald), the swaggering Criminal (Judd Nelson) and the insecure, neurotic Basket Case (Ally Sheedy). Also we are introduced to another stereotype; the mean overbearing Teacher (Paul Gleason).

These five angered kids have nothing in common, and have an aggressive need to ...

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