If anybody captured the teen angst of the 80s, it was John Hughes. His high-school comedy-dramas were among the most effective films of the teen genre and still hold up today against modern predictable schlock and gross-out comedies. Written more skilfully than most films and directed with a simplistic desire to pull the best out of the actors, most Hughes films stand the test of time because of relatable characters and situations. Out of all of his films, The Breakfast Club is probably the very best.

Most people know the basic plot of this 1985 teen film. Five teenagers representing a different clique in high school end up serving a Saturday detention together and come to realize that they are all a bit more complex than their exterior stereotypes would suggest. Set at fictional Shermer High School in Hughes’ widely used fictional town of Shermer, Illinois, The Breakfast Club would become a cult classic and would be widely recognized as one of the best films of the genre.

Emilio Estevez stars as Andrew Clark, the athlete. Estevez was 21 at the time of filming. His character is a varsity wrestler who is serving detention because he taped a student’s buttocks together. Molly Ringwald, just 16 at the time of shooting, plays Claire Standish, the wealthy popular girl. She is serving detention because she skipped school to go to the mall. Anthony Michael Hall, also 16 at the time of shooting, is Brian Johnson, the prototypical “nerd” character. He is serving detention for bringing a flare gun to school. Judd Nelson, 24 during filming, is John Bender, the quintessential rebel. He is in detention for pulling the fire alarm. Finally, Ally Sheedy, 21 during filming, is Alison Reynolds. She’s in detention because she had nothing better to do.

The majority of the film takes place in the school library, although the quintet does escape to go for a run in the hallway during one scene. While serving detention, the group learns about each other’s shortcomings, family issues, and inner secrets while fighting with one another. The gradual opening-up of the students to one another is one of the focal points of the film, as they learn to break down the stereotypes and really discuss issues with one another, even if it is for some just one afternoon. Claire, for instance, claims that things will simply go back to the way they were on the subsequent Monday morning, while others claim that things will be different and that they will be friends.

What makes The Breakfast Club great is the dialogue. Hughes’ script challenges the perceptions people have of the stereotypical groups that society often uses to make categorizing easy. Despite taking place in the mid-80s, the stereotypes found in the film still pervade today and the attitudes are often the same. An updated version of The Breakfast Club would probably need very little by way of touch-ups to the script and the material would remain just as poignant and just as important.

One minor gripe is that some scenes suffer from overacting. The emotional outbursts are often too forced and some scenes take on an almost cheesy effect because of it. The final sequence falls victim to this, as one can’t help but laugh out loud at Bender’s “fist in the air” as he crosses the field. Overall, however, The Breakfast Club maintains a gritty edge and uses the power of language to convey very compelling points. Hughes captures, for the most part, the real attitudes of teenagers and zeroes in on real struggles that many viewers will aptly relate to.

The truth is that most people who’ll read this review have seen The Breakfast Club and certainly don’t need me to tell them that it’s one of the best teen films of all time. They also don’t need do know that it was ranked number one on Entertainment Weekly’s Best High School Movies list or that its Simple Minds theme song has been featured in countless teen films since. Instead, what is likely going to resonate most for those who love The Breakfast Club is how one Saturday afternoon changed the lives of five students and, as a result, the mindset of many of the film’s viewers.

8/10

Trailer: