John Hughes was at his popularity’s apex when he wrote and directed this 1986 teen comedy. Most of his teen-centered work focuses on the angst and anxiety of modern youth life. This film focuses primarily on the free-spirited joy one has before adult responsibilities encroach. That doesn’t mean this is just some vacuous self-centered expression. Through the day’s journey, from suburb to Chicago and back, the characters either affirm or reconfirm their self-actualization.

We’re introduced to the lovable scamp Ferris (Matthew Broderick) as he feigns illness to skip school. He drags along his nervous and slightly neurotic best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and entices his devoted girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara). Fooling Dean Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), they journey to see the best of mid-eighties Chicago. This includes the Sears Tower, The Exchange, the Chicago Cubs, the Art Institute, and a thrilling parade that seems to unites all in downtown Chicago. Will Ferris make it home before his parents return from work, keeping his “playing hooky” secret? You’d have to see the end to find out. However, since the film is generally a romp, you can guess easily how’s it’s going to end.

As mentioned above, some like to be too critical of Ferris. He’s ego-driven. He seems to always get what he wants. It’s like he’s able to scam his way through life. I don’t believe that Hughes was suggesting that his specific actions were worthy of imitation. I also don’t think Ferris was acting in singular selfishness.  The charm of Broderick lets the audience know that Ferris is not malicious. It’s his love of life that leads him past where thought may have halted. His antics allow his friends to enjoy a day off from the humdrum monotony of the classroom. In a way, Ferris is more of a force that causes those around him, Cameron, Sloane, Rooney, and his put-upon sister Jeanie, realize the truth about themselves.

This brings us to the character that the audience most likely identifies with: Cameron. This is because the average person is not likely to disengage from a daily routine without a push. Most of us need an external source to help move us out of our comfort zones. And as with Cameron and his relationship with his father, a person may have legitimate reasons preventing emotional growth. This is why Cameron has a cheering moment when he takes a stand for his own identity against the presence of a father whose emotional absence has harmed the son.

What caught my attention, outside of character development, is the relationship with technology. Even though it’s an eighties film, a decade where tech exploded, one doesn’t think that technology would have a significant role in a non-science fiction picture. Outside of Weird Science, it’s the most prominent in this Hughes’s work. Ferris uses eighties’ staples such as the synthesizer, the phone voice modulator, and the early PC. Through these, he’s able to feign his illness and facilitate the retrieval of his girlfriend. These devices continue to help by “pulling the wool over the eyes” of those that could stop him.

There are two interesting aspects of the technology use. The first is that though Ferris is technically astute, the film doesn’t portray him as a nerd. This is something unheard of in media of the time. The second is that Ferris is controlling the technology, not vice versa. He uses the tech in accord with his motto: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane enjoy each other’s company and the various sights and experience. Technology is just a means to get them there. How refreshing!

Carefully watch the Art Institute visit, parade celebration, and final scene between Cameron and Ferris. There are themes of the power of art, how music and traditions can unite people across varied backgrounds, and the priority of friends and family over material things. Ferris intermittently breaks the fourth wall to provide commentary. Through this, Hughes invites the viewer to join the physical and emotional journey. I admit that I never stop getting a feeling of melancholy and wonder during the museum visit scene. The Dream Academy’s cover of “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” further highlights the emotions and satisfies.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off represents both the national and the universal at its best. Ferris’s trip across the Chicago area shows snippets of what makes the USA the USA. This is in contrast to the purposely dull classroom scenes. The institutions, traditions, places, and people are not something dead within a textbook. They are living in the present, and something not be overlooked. However, the film has universal appeal as well, as the search for freedom can be a human ideal. Ultimately, these can be serious topics. Hughes is able give his thoughts, as always, with a smile.

Again, it’s another story of attraction against the class divide, with a twist on the Ringwald feature. This time, we focus on a male protagonist of lesser means, Keith (Eric Stoltz), along with good friend Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson), a tomboy in similar outsider status. They have close bonds in status-conscious suburban L.A. However, their friendship comes to a breaking point when Keith gets an opportunity to date Amanda (Lea Thompson), one of the popular girls in high school. Though of a similar background as Keith and Watts, her previous relationship with the wealthy bully Hardy (Craig Sheffer), raised her star.

Will Keith and Amanda truly connect? Will Hardy really let his girl go? What’s truly hiding behind Watts’s opposition to her friend dating Amanda? And in an ancillary plot, what choice will Keith make as his father puts pressure on him to be the first in the family to attend college despite his pull to art?

Deutch doesn’t just cut and paste from his previous effort. Again, he animates most of his characters beyond teen movie stereotypes. This time, the comedy is almost entirely dropped. This is very surprising for a John Hughes work. Still, Some Kind of Wonderful is lively in the interaction between characters. Normally, the main character would be completely at odds with his family. However, despite the normal family bouts, one can sense the closeness and love within the Nelson family. I’m drawn to two scenes. One is where the older sister reveals something to him, and another is where he and his father fiercely butt heads over a college matter. In both scenes, Keith ends up being closer to his family at the end. This wouldn’t come across as realistic if it wasn’t for the acting chops of the characters.

I will however say that there are contrasting lows with some of the other characters. One can overlook the lack of development with the youngest sister and the mother. However, the bully Hardy seems somehow less interesting, despite a greater scene presence, when compared to Steff of Pretty in Pink. Despite his propensity for violence and his aggressive possessiveness of Amanda, Hardy seems less top dog of the school. He appears more as fearful competitor with Keith. Compared with James Spader, Sheffer comes off less ostensibly charming. Even though one finds out the reason why Amanda was initially drawn to Hardy, it still ends up making her less desirable. However detrimental it’s to her character, it does provide a pathway to the conclusion.

The star character is Watts, and her interactions with Keith lead more logically to the film’s end than Andie’s and Duckie’s relationship does to Hughes’s desired original ending. Watts and Keith do not have a one-sided relationship. It doesn’t seem that Keith is just tolerating her. They both care about each other and their interests. Despite her pride in her independence and outsider status, Watts doesn’t come across as silly. One can understand why Keith would want to stick by her, even if it causes him to lose cool points. Her protectiveness of him, though strong, doesn’t come across as stalkerish.    

The typical new wave soundtrack again highlights the drama of the scenes. Personally, I don’t think it’s as good as Pretty in Pink’s. However, the bands The Jesus and Mary Chain, Charlie Sexton, and Propaganda, who is featured during the opening Watts drumming sequence, stand out. The slightly heavier sounds appear to reflect the more angsty nature of the characters.

Critics generally praised Some Kind of Wonderful on release. People today seem to have neglected it in contrast with other teen films of the era. Perhaps this is due to the dramatic earnestness of the acting combined with the lack of winking at the audience. I think this separates it from the rest of the pack. Moreover, speaking of pack, it’s Brat Pack light, having only Lea Thompson, whom most view as an ancillary member anyways.

Still, one shouldn’t view the Some Kind of Wonderful as Pretty in Pink 2.0. John Hughes is writing great scenes and dialogue for teens and adults for one of the last times before he shuffled off to “kidsville” and the unbridled wackiness of his 90s work. Deutch is at his apex, letting the actors play to their strengths. They didn’t know it at the time, but the golden age of teen dramady was coming to an end. It’s wonderful that this film could be one of the concluding chapters.

The film starts literally across the railroad tracks as we see the environment that protagonist Andie (Molly Ringwald) lives in. Despite the drab, lower-income neighborhood she lives in, she’s a bright spot on the screen. With a wide smile and quirky dress style, one might think at first, she’s a star of her school. However, she’s an outcast along with her long-time friend Duckie (Jon Cryer), who’s the embodiment of spirited eccentricity. He has a crush on Andie, which will come to a head, when Andie realizes that Blane (Andrew McCarthy), one of the wealthy, popular students, has an interest in her. And for the first time, she opens herself up to love with a person who wouldn’t normally pay her attention.

There’s nothing truly out of ordinary for this story. Like Romeo and Juliet, and the stories that preceded and came after, it’s a love-across-the-divide story. Friends from both of their cliques don’t think that they should belong together. Plus, they have to deal with their own insecurities. What differentiates it from some of the other stories about teens is the strong characterization. These people don’t feel like stereotypes but as individuals with their own motivations.

While Ringwald’s definitely the star and gives a more mature performance than in her previous John Hughes work (though those should be praised for their honesty in expressing teen emotions), a spotlight should be shone particularly on the actors who portray her supportive father Jack (Harry Dean Stanton) and her antagonistic, snobbish classmate Steff (James Spader).

Stanton shows a vulnerability as a depressed single father who is still hopeful for the return of the wife that left their family. Still, he rouses himself to offer simple wisdom to his daughter. He is also humble enough to eventually face the facts set before him by Andie after an initial breakdown at the reality of his non-reconciliation with his wife.

As Steff is the antagonist and the most accomplished actor besides Stanton, I find Spader’s performance the most interesting. Yes, he’s a bully, but he’s not as one-dimensional as seen on the surface. Spader is antagonistic more because she continually rejects his interest rather than just because he hates poor girls. The close-ups of their tense stare-downs are some of the top images.  Looking at his interaction with wealthy girlfriend, one can sense that he knows she’s vapid. He shows less respect for her than for Andie though he won’t admit it. The fact is that Andie can see through his materialism and see his lack of character. She still isn’t willing in the end to lump all the “richies” as the same by reaching out to Blane. This drives Steff crazy.

Where there might be some disagreement with popular opinion is on the character of Duckie. Sorry, I’m not part of the Duckie fan club. I don’t entirely fault the performance of Jon Cryer. He was likely following the script and the direction. However, I’ve come to find his behavior as less endearing than obnoxious. It’s obvious that Andie cares for him as friend. It seems though that Duckie is trying to be more pressing than wooing. If they got together in the end, it would seem like he broke her down. Not that she discovered some new charm that turned friendship into romance. It’s my opinion why the original ending should’ve been scuttled and Deutch shouldn’t feel bad about current ending. Though his unhappiness did give us another classic teen movie.

Blane acts bland compared to the other characters, but that’s not too harmful to the acting. He has more personality than Ringwald’s romantic interest in Sixteen Candles. He just serves as the mysterious, nice, but somewhat aloof-looking guy that many teen girls long for. It also doesn’t hurt that he has some bucks.

What most people consider as the true star of Pretty in Pink is the soundtrack. Instead of relying on safe Top 40 hits of 1985, it showcased then-less known new wave, synth-pop, and alternative artists. We get New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths, and The Psychedelic Furs of the title song, among others. The music fits the scene and puts you in the minds and hearts of the teenager of the mid-80s. Though decades from that time, the music is still great. It’ll cause you to want to delve deeper into the 80s music scene beyond the more popularized artists.

Pretty in Pink is a wonderful snapshot of an era and a group of actors that were at their prime across a number of films for a brief window of time. I like the zany aspects of Hughes’s writing. However, it’s nice to view a story stripped back to earnest romantic drama, even if it’s just youthful crushes. Deutch molded the given material into a film that breathes the 80s but can exist without irony outside the decade.

Pretty in Pink (1986) Official Trailer