Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Nowadays, if one thinks of a teen movie, the mind turns to gross-out humour, casual nudity and rampant cursing. But in the Age of John Hughes a teen movie was a journey of self-discovery, growing up, or just plain wish-fulfilment, showing us the best of how teenage life can be. And while films like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club gave us a rare realism in how strange and difficult growing up can be, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is simple indulgence. That being said, our three main characters, wunderkind and folk hero Ferris (Matthew Broderick), neurotic Cameron (Alan Ruck) and kind-hearted Sloane (Mia Sara), are surprisingly relatable, despite being played by a group of twentysomethings (Alan Ruck was 29 when he played Cameron!). Every one of us has been crippled by the kind of uncertainty that plagues Cameron, and Ferris is that inhumanly confident friend, always capable of talking you into things you never dreamed you could do. Of course, thinking about it for too long will lead you to the conclusion that Ferris is really just a privileged upper-middle-class kid who lies to his entire family just so he can indulge himself, where villain Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) is just an educator doing his job. But every teenager had a time where they wished they could fight back against the establishment and truly live their lives, and this film captures the feeling perfectly, feeling as relevant now as it did in 1986, thanks to its timeless message...


Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.