by Adam Ritchie, Contributing Writer
I’ve been holding off on writing this one for some time, and at the very real risk of being “cancelled,” I have finally built up the courage to tell you why I think Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is not a good movie.
*Whilst ducking low to avoid projectiles, reads following disclaimer in fastest internal voice possible*
Not all views expressed herein are those of SiftPop management. The author assumes all responsibility of reader discomfort and fully expects hate mail, petitions to cancel my “cinephile card,” or have me deported to the south pole where I can never see another film again. Author is relieved he lives literally half a world away from most readers.
*End disclaimer*
For the sake of brevity, I am going to trust, my dear reader, that you are aware of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I may even be so bold as to assume you like, or even love, this film, so I will not offer any synopsis, brief or otherwise, of the story.
I know I had seen parts of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off before, but I am confident I had never seen the entire film beginning to end. So when I sat down to enjoy a John Hughes “classic,” I was full of anticipation of what I was about to see, with absolutely zero nostalgia value. I will note here that I am fully aware of nostalgia bias, and as a human, I cannot escape it myself. See my Letterboxd for a plethora of my own nostalgic biases. We are human and we like what like, or vice versa, at times for no logical reason.
Skip to roughly 103 minutes later, and me being a little miffed at myself, and at the film, for making me not like it. By now, we all know films from the ‘80s can be a little problematic or maybe outdated at best. As a film watcher and lover of “old/classic” films, I do try my best to put myself into the time in which the film was made. Sometimes it helps, other times not so much. The point of this column is for me to do exactly that, but then review it with the eyes of a 2023 society. Times change, often for the better, often not. But I believe experience with change being better or worse is completely relative and subjective.
So to be a little contrarian to my own opinion on the film, I can totally understand the love that so many people have for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.If you saw this as an impressionable youth during different times, the film totally holds up as an anti-establishment, tongue-in-cheek, rebel without a cause-style romp. It also has a very charming lead creating ‘80s-style mischief and general shenanigans. That used to be a winning motif back in the days when films like Animal House, Police Academy, and Revenge of the Nerds were hits.
If Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was released in 2023, I strongly believe the Twitterverse (is it X-verse now?) would tear it apart. Like most John Hughes films, there is little care for logic, but what I found most egregious from a story telling perspective is the total lack of thought for time. This kid travels around Chicago in mere seconds to what I will call “events” which really should take the entire school day. If you live in a suburb of a sprawling metropolis like Chicago, you know you cannot travel from said suburb into the heart of the city without it taking a considerable amount of time.
Nitpicky I know, but I was clearly not in the mood for such guff the day I watched this!
The humor doesn’t always land — in fact, the vast majority of it misses by a long way, purely because I HATE Ferris as a character. This POV may be what breaks some of you into hating me as a person, but I’m fine with that. Ferris (why at this point am I compelled to deride his name? Was Hughes at a state fair when he got the inspiration for this script?) is a complete jerk-off, a-hole, manipulative scumbag of a person.
He doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He is a complete narcissist who gives zero thought of how his actions affect those closest to him. He is completely in for himself. It’s all well and good to be an antihero of sorts, but Ferris is not a hero in any respect, so he can’t be “anti” anything. He is completely apathetic to other humans.
The film offers me no reason as to why Ferris is so popular and beloved besides snippets of other students adoring him… for no reason. If it did offer me that insight, it must’ve been so quick I missed it.
The way Ferris treats his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) is honestly disgusting. Cameron could never have been Ferris’ friend in real life. They are from two different scholastic classes, and I don’t mean classes. I mean classes. Ferris, the (somehow) extroverted popular kid and Cameron an introverted nerd; their friendship just isn’t realistic. He also manipulates his girlfriend continuously and gets off scot-free with a dimply smile and twinkly eye.
Ironically, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is absolutely a film I will see again sometime. I generally like films when the protagonist is actually the antagonist, plus I am a firm believer that everyone (even film — especially ones that are universally beloved) deserves a second chance. The day I watched this, I could not get on board with it at all, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee a repeat experience when I see it again some point in the future.
You can read more from Adam Ritchie, and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd