Rent The Breakfast Club (1985)

Saturday Detention, Lifetime Sentence - The Breakfast Club review by griggs

Hard to say anything new about The Breakfast Club, so I won’t pretend otherwise. Five teenagers in Saturday detention, a John Hughes script sharp enough to cut glass, and a premise that ought to feel trapped in the 1980s but still lands.

Hughes gives each archetype room to split open — the jock, the princess, the brain, the criminal, the basket case — and what spills out is messier and more human than any of them expected. Judd Nelson chews the scenery and earns every bite. Ally Sheedy quietly walks off with the film.

This isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last time I watch it. The confessional scenes still sting, the comedy holds up, and that ending — Simple Minds, fist in the air — gets me every time, even when I know it’s coming. Sentimental? Maybe. Don’t care.

If only detentions were this much fun - The Breakfast Club review by HW

I liked this movie’s mix of fun, comic scenes (with dances) and the surprisingly deep and emotional scenes, as the five teens stuck in Saturday detention go from badmouthing each other to opening up about their personal lives. They discover they all have things in common: namely that their parents all suck in different ways. The message: it’s hard being an American white teen in the 80s. The vice principal in this film is also an offensive adult but seriously I hope he gets fired. He is an educational example in bad behaviour management. I think my favourite character is the delinquent rebel (definitely not in his 20s), mainly for his cool outfit. 

I would have enjoyed this film much more but for some bizarre reason, this Criterion Blu-Ray of a very popular 80s classic didn’t have subtitles. A little warning if you’re hard of hearing like me, especially for the scenes of teens mumbling and whispering when they’re not screaming threats at each other. Still one of the best US high school movies you can watch.