Ferris Bueller's Day Off: On-This-Day Thursday
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For June 11th, we are going to have a look at Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
We’ve all played hooky in high school (or at least most of us have), and I’m sure there are some stories of elaborate schemes that did (or didn’t) work to tell. I guess the most explorative I got with my school skipping methods was pretending to be working on a major project, when all I was doing was shooting weird videos with my buddy Vivian Martin (shout out to you, friend!); we were caught in our insane costumes (I was a teenager and felt like Norwegian black metal corpse paint was the way to go). That holds zero candles to the escapist wonderland of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: John Hughes’ buffet that has a little bit of something for everybody. I think that’s one of the major selling points for this picture: most of us have ditched class, so we know the rush that comes with it, but seeing how the titular student goes about such an occasion is to know how going the extra mile with this risk would feel. With the charming Matthew Broderick playing the smartass Ferris, this is a getaway that feels A-OK (could you imagine some smarmy brat in the same role? I think the film would be virtually unwatchable).
Part of the importance of casting is the film’s candid nature. Ferris addresses us for most of the film. He doesn’t break the fourth wall, because there is no fourth wall. We’re here on the ride with him, even if no one else can see us. I do think it’s a bit strange that this single-perspective ride features what goes on in the school as well, but I feel like I’m being picky at this point. It’s important that we see what else is happening, whether it’s to his sister Jeanie, Dean Rooney, or to other side characters that Ferris encounters. It’s just bizarre that the film promotes this idea that we’re with Ferris so much, when we break away from his perspective of his story quite frequently. I will say that these inconsistent rules feel quite signature for Hughes, who had his own iconic voice but really did whatever he felt like at any given time. This is true for the random dance sequence in The Breakfast Club, and the random cartoony sounds that come out of Curly Sue, and it’s especially true here. It’s almost admirable, because it seems like Hughes is unaware of the cohesions of cinema, so that means that whatever he gets right came out of his love of the medium; not because he studied films academically, but because he loved being in films as a means of escape, and so he decided to make his own hideouts.
Enough in Ferris Bueller is well made to hoist it beyond other similar teen films.
Having said that, Hughes still has an eye for what makes film great as art, and it’s something I feel like sometimes gets lost in the discussions of his works, especially since it’s his writing and unique style of comedy and teen/youth stories that have cemented his legacy. His team utilized an amazing colour coordination system, where the character Cameron’s Detroit Red Wings jersey would always be offset by something else crimson in the frame (see the hints of rouge in the painting behind him in the above picture). Shots would also be well angled, and with a hint of a priority of art over story, which is quite abnormal because we’re talking about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off here. However, that’s the kind of commitment to this project that you can see just radiate off the screen. No matter what questionable actions happen here (could one really fit all of those activities into one day?), the film is well-designed enough on a technical level that it’s actually astonishing at times.
Otherwise, it’s your typical John Hughes material, but I’d argue that it’s easily one of his finer hours. Seeing Dean Rooney’s comeuppance is a riot. Noticing Jeanie’s character developments when her darn brother Ferris doesn’t have any (he gets away with too much, I tell you) is a much needed touch. Uncovering all of the ripple effects of Ferris’ escape plan affect all of Chicago is absolutely amusing. I feel like Hughes lost sight of what fun surface level entertainment for younger audiences felt like in the ‘90s onward, but Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was made when he was still highly aware of how to make even mature audiences feel like teens again. I won’t lie: I’m not the biggest John Hughes fan on Earth, but it’s examples like this one where I fully understand what his core audience sees. It’s nice to be able to turn your brain off every once in a while, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has strong photography, a parade of laughs and goofs, and an intimate connection with the title character to keep you going. It’s a much-needed break we could all use every once in a while.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.