Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Film Review

In 1986, a comedy called Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which takes place in Chicago, was released. It stars Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller, Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye, Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson, Jeffrey Jones as Ed Rooney, and Jennifer Grey as Jeannie Bueller. It is produced by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) and Tom Jacobson (Uncle Buck). The director is John Hughes.

The story centers around a 17-year-old boy named Ferris Bueller. One day, he pretends to be sick in order to miss school and have some fun. His parents are easily fooled while his younger sister Jeannie is not. As soon as his parents and sister leave, he gets up and starts to enjoy his day off. He calls his best friend Cameron Frye and asks him to come over with the car, but he really is sick. Finally, Ferris pushes him and Cameron reluctantly agrees. Then Ferris tries to get his girlfriend Sloane Peterson out of school by having Cameron pose as her father and call Ed Rooney, the dean of students, and tell him to release her because her grandma has just died. Rooney, thinking it’s Ferris on the phone tries to catch him in a lie. But Ferris calls Rooney on a different line. The dean tries to apologize, but “Mr. Peterson” wouldn’t have it. He starts giving Rooney a hard time.

Later on, Ferris and Cameron arrive to pick her up in one of Cameron’s father’s cars, which Ferris made him take instead of his own car. Together, they all take off into downtown Chicago to have fun. Jeannie, having seen Sloane waiting outside of the school, goes to Rooney’s office to tell him Ferris is faking it, but he is not there. He has gone out himself to bust Ferris and make an example of him. His younger sister heads home to confirm that Ferris is gone. After she does, she tries calling their mom but cannot reach her. Rooney, meanwhile, breaks into the house just after she hangs up. Jeannie, thinking that it’s Ferris, quietly goes downstairs. At the same time Rooney hears Jeannie in the hall and believes it’s Ferris. They both jump out and startle each other. Jeannie kicks Rooney in the face after not recognizing him. She calls the police and they come to pick her up for making a phony phone call.

Meanwhile, Ferris and his friends have left the car at a sleazy garage. Unknown to them, the two employees there take the car out for a joy ride as the three friends are enjoying Chicago. After picking up the car, Cameron realizes that there are many more miles on the car’s odometer than he remembers, so he panics. Ferris’s best friend, then, goes into a trance and later comes out of it when he falls in a pool. They try to run off the miles by running the car backwards but it doesn’t work. In frustration, Cameron accidentally kicks the car out the back window of the garage. He finally decides to take a stand against his uptight father and will take the heat for what happened to the car. Ferris drops his girlfriend off at her place and realizes that he has five minutes to get home before his parents do. He takes a detour through some backyards and when he finally reaches his backdoor, Rooney is waiting there hoping to bust him.

One of the most interesting characters in the film is Ferris’ best friend Cameron Frye. Cameron is an uptight teenager whose father has misguided priorities and pushes his son around. What Ferris may have been trying to do when taking Cameron along was show him that “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” In the beginning, Cameron is hesitant to leave his house and join Ferris because he might get in trouble. But he goes anyway and, later, allows Ferris to make him borrow his father’s car. Later on after he comes to after falling into the trance, he realizes that he can’t hide from his father forever. After the car is destroyed, he takes a stand against his father and finally appears liberated.

A personal favorite scene is when Ferris sings “Twist and Shout” in front of the entire city of Chicago. He does this because Cameron had told him that he hadn’t seen anything good that day so far. Everyone, including Sloane and Cameron, dance to the song and the viewer can’t help but sing and dance along with them. This scene adds a great musical element to the film.

To wrap, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a great feel-good comedy and widely seen as one of the best movies of the 1980’s. It is highly recommended.

write by Garrick