Ferris Bueller's Day Off (PG-13)
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This came out in 1986 (it's one of the classics of the decade), so it's the kind of thing you might expect to be nostalgic for me... but you'd be wrong, because actually I didn't see it until much later. Probably 1999 was the first time I saw it. And that's not a year I much like thinking about. But whatevs, it's still a great movie. I finally watched it again in 2012 (I think for the second time ever, and first time on DVD), which is when I'm writing the review. If you care. I should love this movie, I really should, but I kind of can't, quite. I definitely like it a lot, though.

First I have to say that Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is aptly named. The kid's just like a Ferris wheel. And no, I have no idea what I mean by that. Shut up. Um... well, he's kind of cocky and smug, which is a neat trick, considering he's also an incredibly nice guy. His sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) resents the fact that he gets away with everything, and she can't stand him. And I don't blame her at all. This is a guy who deserves to get in trouble, and yet everyone loves him (well, I only like him). He's not a bad guy, but he's definitely a bad influence, in the most vanilla way possible. He seems so damned cool, but really he's just uninhibited, and leads a charmed existence. And he knows that. ("One of the worst performances of my career, and they didn't doubt it for a second.") I should start explaining the plot, sorry. Um... so Ferris pretends to be sick, and his parents let him stay home from school. He does this a lot (well, nine times this semester). His best friend, Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck), is also staying home sick, which he also presumably does a lot. But it's more a sort of psychosomatic thing, because he basically hates his life. Ferris doesn't have a car, so he convinces Cameron to give him a ride in his dad's car, though it takes awhile for Cameron to agree. Ferris also gets Cameron to help him pull off a ruse that gets Ferris's girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) out of school for the day. And the three of them wander around Chicago, having the best ditch day ever. (There are a few glimpses of what they're missing in school, which should probably make me feel bad for the students who are there, but mainly it makes me feel bad for the teachers. Because I am old.)

Meanwhile, the school principal, Ed Rooney, goes to great lengths to catch Ferris ditching. His attempts do not go well. And Jeanie also wants to bust Ferris (in retrospect, she kinda reminds me of Candace from Phineas and Ferb). I feel fairly bad for both of them, though I guess things kinda work out better for Jeanie, eventually, than they do for Rooney. Um... what else can I say? Ferris is clearly brilliant in the tricks he's set up, even if they're only likely to work in a movie. And I should mention he occasionally talks in asides to the audience. And... I dunno, basically he's just pretty flippant, doesn't seem to care about anything except having a good time, unless something really serious happens to momentarily shatter his worldview. Actually the best character is probably Cameron, whom Ferris wants to help lighten up. I think both Cameron and Sloane have a much more realistic view of the world than Ferris does (I kinda wish they were a couple), though it's true that Cameron did sort of benefit from Ferris's influence. I guess. Presumably. Maybe. (Definitely some bad will come of it, but I mean... hopefully in a larger sense some good will come of it.)

Um... and I wanted to mention that the band "Save Ferris" (whose work I must have known before I ever saw this) was named after a recurring theme in the movie. And... if there were other things I wanted to mention, I can't think of them right now. Anyway, it's definitely a fun and funny movie, even if it's pretty irresponsible and silly. Dammit, I want to say more than that, but that's all I got. Oh yeah, also be sure to watch all the way through the end credits.