Review of Club Paradise (1986) by Hoops2448 — 22 Nov 2011

The Breakfast Club is an incredibly vibrant coming of age story that is just so incredibly honest that you cannot help but love it. The film tells the story of five high school kids who get Saturday detention. These five are however completely different. There is the Brain (Anthony Michael Hall), The Basket Case(Ally Sheedy), The Princess (Molly Ringwald), The Athlete (Emilio Estevez) and The Criminal (Judd Nelson). Over the course of the film each and every one of them discovers something new about each other.

It seems a little formulaic but in a way its the teen film that built the formula. John Hughes once again took a simplistic plot premise and made it so incredibly detailed and intelligent much like he did with Sixteen Candles. However the greatest part of The Breakfast Club is its tone. The tone of the film goes from dark to light in a blink of an eye, it allows for some of the character reveals to feel shocking and real at the same time. The tone allows for pure joy and fun (the iconic dance sequence) while also allowing for some utterly upsetting character moments (Judd Nelsons depiction of life in the Bender household for instance). Its a film that knows exactly what it wants to do while also making it relate-able for its target audience. In the hands of a lesser director this film would seem generic but Hughes makes it iconic while also thoroughly entertaining.