Review of Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) by Jay F — 28 Aug 2012

Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Great Movies.

This coming-of-age film focuses on a high school senior named Ferris Bueller, who takes a day off of school by faking an illness. His parents, however, believe he is serious about being sick. Ferris realizes that he will be going off to different colleges with his two best friends, Cameron Frye; a hypochondriac pessimist, and Sloane Peterson; Bueller's significant other/attractive girlfriend.

You'll notice Ferris Bueller constantly break the fourth wall throughout the film to explain to the audience his thoughts and techniques in order for us to compare our own life experiences with his. The first one we see in the film is when Ferris gives us pointers on how to fake an illness in three different ways if we choose to play hooky. When we see Ferris Bueller's room, we learn that he likes Simple Minds, as we notice a Simple Minds poster in a few frames throughout the film. He also happens to be a punk, and turns on the television and guess what comes on? Classic old MTV! Before he showers, he blasts "Love Missile F1-11" and even tries to sing part of it while taking a shower. We also hear him share some of his philosophy after his shower and he claims that he thinks "isms" are bad and that people should only believe in themselves. He then quotes John Lennon and compares himself to him due to their mutual beliefs. This leads to Bueller stating that Lennon was meant to be "the walrus" and Bueller, valuing Lennon's philosophy, says that he'd like to be the walrus someday. This is a reference to the Beatles song, in which John sang it.

The movie switches scenes between Ferris Bueller enjoying his day off of school and contacting his friends at the same time and Principal Rooney having a dispute with the school's secretary, Grace. Principal Rooney notifies Ferris Bueller's mother that Ferris has had nine absences throughout the second semester. Mrs. Bueller doesn't remember it, for some reason, so Principal Rooney talks to Grace about why Bueller was frequently absent. Grace explains to him that Bueller is a popular student and that he is a good role model to everyone. Despite him being popular, we learn that his sister, Jeanie despises him and thinks he's a phony.

Cameron takes the day off school because he is suffering from hypochondria, and Sloane gets to miss school early when a teacher notifies her that her grandfather recently passed away. When Ferris and Cameron are at Bueller's house before they pick up Sloane, Bueller wears a different outfit in order to disguise himself and not get caught by the principal. In other words, Bueller is hiding his actual appearance to avoid getting in trouble with the principal.

The trio drive around Chicago in Cameron's father's 1961 Ferrari GT250. Cameron states that his dad loves his Ferrari more than anything else, despite it being an inanimate/unnatural object with no emotion whatsoever. They stop at the Chicago Museum of Art, watch a baseball game at the Wrigley Field and see a parade going on in downtown Chicago. They pretty much just hang out one last time before they go their separate ways when they head off to college.