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Actors: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Breakfast Club |
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Five high school students, Andy, Brian, Claire, John and Allison are sentenced to detention and are forced to spend their Saturday in the school library.
The principal, Dick, forces them each to write an essay.
The kids are all different stereotypes. Andy is a jock that hates his father and tries living up to his expectations.
Andy is a bad boy with an abusive father. Claire is a spoiled rich girl whose parents are having problems. Allison is a weird girl who entertains thoughts of running away. Brian is a geek who gets good grades, but is cracking under the pressure.
Throughout the course of the day, these five people that couldn't be more different begin pouring their hearts out to each other and discover that they've got a lot more in common that they thought.
By the end of the day they'd become friends and learned a lot about themselves each other and life in general.
Brian writes a single essay that expresses all of their thoughts and critisizes Dick for making them waste their Saturday in detention and for treating them like criminals and making them feel like they'll never amount to anything.
--Brandon Swenson, Resident Scholar
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An unlikely group of teenagers are thrown together to make the most of a detention assignment. It has many sad moments that transport you right back to your own high school days. All the social groups are represented. Ringwold plays the pretty popular girl. Estevez the high school jock. Hall plays what he does so well , high school nerd. Sheedy plays the girl no one even notices and Nelson a sensitive bad boy. They share some very tender moments but you know the next day at school they never speak to each other again just like in real life.
--Angela Cowart, Resident Scholar
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5 Kids from very different cliques in H.S. get sentenced to detention and find that they really aren't so different after all. The Princess(Ringwald) and the Criminal(Nelson) get together and the Basket Case(Sheedy) and Athlete(Estevez) also end up together. Conversations centered around sex, growing up and group discussion on how all the kids made it into detention. Ringwald ends up seducing Nelson in the closet-no sex though.
--MaryB, Resident Scholar
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Five high schoolers who would never have hung out together otherwise get stuck in detention on a Saturday afternoon, sitting in the school library and assigned to write an essay for the principal. They are: Andrew Clarke, the Athlete (Estevez); John Bender, the Criminal (Nelson); Claire Standish, the Princess (Ringwald); Brian Ralph Johnson, the Brain (Hall); and Allison Reynolds, the Burnout Case (Sheedy). Quiet at first, they get to talking and discover they have a lot in common . . . but will they still be friends come Monday? Writer-director John Hughes put together this 1985 charmer right after doing "National Lampoon's Vacation" and "Sixteen Candles." Ringwald, who usually played awkward and brainy outsiders, is miscast as a prom queen, and Sheedy's character is underdeveloped, but the film has its moments. This slight movie is mostly interesting for its showcasing of the Brat Pack actors near the dawn of their careers.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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It seemed like a normal day in detention with each group represented. There's the Jock (Estivez), the Criminal (Nelson), the Princess (Ringwald), the Brain (Hall), and the Basket Case (Sheedy). Yet these kids, left alone for hours, learn things about each other, and themselves. They start to grow on one another and wonder if they'll be able to continue this friendship when school starts on Monday. A very deep and often funny movie from John Hughes.
--Adam D. Bram, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Breakfast Club |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- committing crimes
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Struggle with
- learns to be more sensitive
- (General) search for meaning/identity
Age group
- trouble in high school
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
- (man) short/standard wavey
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
- caring
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- red
Hair style
- (woman) short/butch/lez
Body type
- (woman) very skinny
How much in movie?
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- teacher/professor
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 20%
- 40%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Body type
- (man) average
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
City?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Misc setting
- school
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- all mixed up
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
Any profanity?
- Some foul language
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Modern rock/pop
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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