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Rating: John Hughes is a director of comedies, perhaps not particularly brilliant or well-known. However, in 1986 he directed one of the funniest movies of that era titled (for the Italian market) "Una Pazza Giornata di Vacanza" (Ferris Bueller's Day Off). It is a youthful comedy that is completely successful, with some socio-pedagogical ambitions, featuring a very young Matthew Broderick (who until then had only acted in "War Games") as the protagonist. You wouldn't remember it in cinemas, because it was never distributed there. I'm talking about a product that can be found on videocassette, laserdisc, and from this year also on DVD. The cast isn't bad: besides the aforementioned Broderick, there are also Mia Sara ("Dirty Dancing"), Jeffrey Jones ("The Devil's Advocate"), and a fun cameo by Charlie Sheen.
The story is simple: Ferris (Broderick) skips school to avoid a class assignment and spends a fun day in Chicago with his trusty friend Cameroon and his girlfriend Sloan. To his parents, principal, and classmates, Ferris pretends to be sick, but it won't be easy to keep up the act until the end. The principal (Jeffrey Jones) will pursue him, aware of the young man's numerous tricks, admired by his classmates but hated by his very jealous sister (Mia Sara) for being the apple of their parents' eye.
There are elements of the film, initially conceived as a light-hearted comedy, that deserve appreciation. In the opening scenes, Ferris instructs the audience (speaking to the camera and creating a particular empathy with the viewer) with some simple rules on how to fool parents: fake cramps, moans, and licking one's palms, without overdoing it to avoid too much concern and therefore a doctor's intervention or worse, a day in the hospital. Still speaking to the audience, he quotes John Lennon "I don't believe in Beatles, I believe in myself" and makes it his personal life doctrine, but if we want elevates a bit the sense of heroic American individualism. One of the most captivating aspects of the film is the friendship relationship with Cameroon, who starts as a hypochondriac living in his father's shadow and is somewhat dragged by Ferris into antics. The explosive nature of young Bueller will shake Cameroon to such an extent that it provokes, in the end, an unexpected reaction, if you will somewhat brutal, against his authoritarian father and his incapability to assert himself, transforming him into a fierce "fighter." Deception is somewhat the thread running through the film. The role of the fool is played by the high school principal who "fights" with all his means against Ferris, who in the film is somewhat the reference point for the high school youth. Hence a particular persistence to dismantle the diabolical escape plan, with a notable quote, "I want to make young people understand that the example he sets is a first-class ticket to a train going nowhere." The film revolves around a splendid flame-red Ferrari 250 GT, the key to the successful day off, a bit of a metaphor for escape, ambition, rebellion, youthful energy, and distorted sense of priority for the average American who equates success with the possession of expensive things.
There's also a bit of benevolence (in the prolonged conversations with the audience by the hero Ferris) and of American custom. This can be noticed in the Chicago parade with a tribute to the Beatles, in the residential suburb where Ferris lives (where life has a different rhythm, but not the rhythm Ferris is seeking) and in the ultra-clean school, in the image of the ambitious principal, the champion of discipline. Another figure to remember: Ferris's sister. She just needs to be understood (considered) and to hurt her brother she gets into trouble. Her small personal story is grotesque, but aimed at understanding her role and shedding the clothes of a spoiled child to become an accomplice and maybe as "savvy" as her brother. Apart from the genius and amusing ideas and the depiction of the culture of that American MTV generation, the ambitions, dreams, and desire to assert one's personality, it must be said that the structure of the film does not revolve around a simple prank, but a sort of "collective rite or trial by fire" that separates being a mischievous child from becoming an adult.
The soundtrack is electrifying: a good dose of acoustic rock, electronic, and ballads. The splendid "Please Please," already heard in Italy in a beer commercial, accompanies the kids in the museum scene, "Oh Yeah" by Yellow which is an '80s gem with incredible bass. During the parade, you hear "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles and the swinging "Central Park": do not miss the protagonist's performance. Not quite a cult film, but almost.
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