John Hughes Is Overrated

I joined an 80's film club on Facebook and discovered that I wasn't the only one who shared this sentiment.
John Hughes is a joke.

"The Breakfast Club" came out when I was 10 years old, and I bought the VHS on one of those Columbia House deals. By bought, I meant...got free, because I'm fucking 10 years old and they can't legally hold me to a contract. Any way, I had a crush on Ally Sheedy.

So...I watched that movie a gazillion times. Turns out, it's garbage with a kickass anthem. In other words, John Hughes makes shitty movies with great anthems. Kind of like Cameron Crowe. And they are super lilly White. As in, WASPY problems. In the 80's, it made a ton of sense. Izod Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, and so forth sold the chiseled jaw, debutante look. Which doesn't hold up (which I think, any movie you want to call a "classic" should transcend life).
I think there are too many issues with "The Breakfast Club" now. Like teens wouldn't understand John Bender (Judd Nelson) being in detention. That's their starting point now. Also, everyone was just so...same. They were meant to be different but they weren't. But I guess that was Hughes' point. These vastly different social groups in high school all share their disappointment in their parents. Okay. As you get older, you see how entitled they sound, and you want to smack them. Speaking of which...
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" came out when I was in 7th grade. I was 11 and a guy who worked at my parents' restaurant said it was an awesome movie. I was dropped off at the duplex.
I agree with Gilbert Gottfried on this matter...Ferris is OBNOXIOUS. Smug and ENTITLED. The entire time I kept wondering what he did to deserve the adoration of his classmates. First, he looks like a massive dweeb. Acts like a fruit and seems to think he's smarter than the rest of the universe. In reality, he'd be collared by the first adult and smacked around like a pinata (1980's you could do that).


Yes, let's embrace this (it WAS 1987). To me, it was John Hughes' wet dream of having friends. It's somewhat a surreal film too because they add in a music video where the whole city of Chicago joins in to Ferris' antics. And Hughes thinks the world is stupid. I mean...REALLY stupid. Everyone he encounters is dumber than Ferris. His sister Jean (Jennifer Gray) seems to be the voice of sensible adult and the audience who were wondering why this was happening.Yeah, the voice of every person with a brain. I think Ferris is a figment of Cameron's (Alan Ruck) imagination. Like that is his ID. Though it was told from Ferris's point of view breaking the fourth wall. I wish this were the case. It would be the smartest thing. Doubt Hughes thought that deeply about it. If he had, he would've casted real teenagers. These guys look like post-college graduates.

Anyway, don't get me started on "Sixteen Candles" and his absolute love of making the Japanese the butt of his jokes. It really is unnerving today (remember, needs to hold up). He didn't direct "Pretty In Pink" You can tell because it doesn't have "Dragnet" cues or sound effects with facial movements.

"Weird Science" is decent because it is already injected with the over the top caricature people that his previous films seems to have. NONE of these movies are funny. I honestly don't get it. They're really on the nose and they stand out on a sheet of paper. They're Dad jokes, at best.

I would say, out of his entire canon "Curly Sue" is his best. There is heart in it that is missing from the rest. By heart, I mean, though Hughes can't shake being corny...I mean REALLY corny, there's still good schmaltz in it. And I am a fan of schmaltz. In his previous films, it never felt earned. When Claire gives Bender her earring. Or Jean lies to save Ferris, or Jake Ryan shows up to pick up Samantha. All forced moments. "Curly Sue" is a DARK movie. The underlying thing is that this drifter "adopted" a dead junkie's baby and now is forced to fend for her. It's a grim fairy tale which ends well, but it still has some creepy moments that feel real. And it also happens to be his final one as a director.
He went out...perfectly fine.