Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Plot
Ferris Bueller, is a 17 year old popular kid who is often at the irk of his high school dean of students, Ed Rooney.
On a lovely day – he decides to fake a sickness, get his best friend Cameron to borrow his dad’s classic Ferrari and get his girlfriend Sloan out of school for the day – so they can have a great day of fun.
Rooney, however doesn’t believe Bueller is sick, so goes above and beyond in order to catch him out.
Direction
Written and Directed by 20th Century comedy legend John Hughes. This has all his wit and charm about it.
Cast/Characters
Matthew Broderick plays Ferris, and he absolutely holds his own as the character. His confidence, his charisma – it is no wonder he was a name in the 1980s.
Alan Ruck plays Cameron, who gets plenty to do within the film, especially when it comes to the ‘off screen’ relationship between he and his father. Ruck was still ‘just’ youthful enough to pull off the role, as he was almost 30 when the film was released – playing the teenager.
Mia Sara plays Sloan Peterson, Ferris’ girlfriend.
Jennifer Grey plays Jeanie, Ferris’ long suffering sister, who is tired of his antics.
Jeffrey Jones plays Ed Rooney, the dean of students, who takes his own day… off… to hunt down Ferris, as he believes he’s faking his illness.
Other cast include Ben Stein (as Ferris’ history teacher), Edie McClurg (as Rooney’s secretary), Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward as Ferris’ parents and Charlie Sheen who flirts with Jeanie in the police station.
Breakdown
Amazingly I write this in the year this film turns FORTY!
Despite its age, and the obvious lack of current technology (Ferris would never be able to pull all the stunts he pulled here in 2026), it has held up incredibly well.
There are some incredibly funny (and ingenious) ways that Ferris gets out of school, and sets up a ruse for those who come check on him in his room (the dummy with a pull system) and the doorbell ring. He also fakes his girlfriend’s grandmothers death in order to get her out too, with Cameron’s comical portrayal of her father on the phone! Very funny.
Ferris often breaks the fourth wall in the film as well, talking directly to the camera. This is one of the first real films that I’ve reviewed that has done this, and is decades before it really became popular (especially in television!)
Jeffrey Jones’ Ed Rooney belongs in the zeitgeist of 80’s movies villains. He is over the top in his eagerness to prove that Ferris is faking his illness in order to skip school. Perhaps he goes to far, but you could argue that he is just a dedicated educator who values the education of children. But with the real life troubles of the star, it’s even easier to hate him, and be glad he goes through almost hell. His final comeuppance, at the hands of Ferris’ sister, goes to show he is really the common enemy of all the children.
Ferris’ Day out is simply amazing with what he gets accomplished; driving into the city (in Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari), heading to Sears tower, Chicago Board of Trade to check the trade floor, a ‘snotty restaurant, Wriggly Field to catch a ball game, the Art Institute of Chicago, (with Cam’s looking at A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte painting being referenced in countless spoofs, and finally singing in the street fair. What a day off! They might actually need a day off from their day off!
Ferris almost gets caught many times, such as a near miss with his dad at the restaurant, Rooney seeing them on television and dad again in the taxi… but surely he’d recognise Sloan?
There is of course the arc with Ferris talking Cam into borrowing Cam’s fathers Ferrari, which Cam hilariously destroys (driving it through a window) in a moment of clarity when he finally opens up about his fathers lack of love of him. Cam’s arc is actually stronger than Ferris’ – and you can’t help but wonder what happens next?
There are a slew of known names, both of the time and soon to be, such as Ben Stein (as the monotone History teacher), as well as Kristy Swanson and Max Perlich as students.
The fourth wall breakage continues right up until the end of the credits sequence when Ferris tells the audience to go home.
Overall
Broderick proves why he was a name of the 80s with his confident approach to the popular kid Ferris. With strong performances by those around him.
I would want a day off after that “day off”
Still fun even 40 years later. A recommend, but not for kids with the coarse language (I forgot about the F and S Bombs).
3.5/5
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