Review of The Breakfast Club (1985) by Russell G — 18 Jan 2016

In high school, most people fall into ridged social categories. The vast division between groups is staggering when you consider how much people often have in common. Simply having different physical attributes or interests seemingly determines how many or which people will be your friends.

This movie understands that, but it does not accept it. It challenges that social structure in a thoughtful way. The story involves a small group of students serving detention on a Saturday. Each student represents one of the defined categories that all schools have.

There is a brainy but awkward nerd, a beautiful popular girl, an athletic jock, an eccentric artistic outcast and a rebellious troublemaker. I can say from personal experience that Saturday detention is not such an interesting and diverse cross-section of the student body.

In the doldrums of their detention, they talk to each other and share how they got in trouble. Like real teenagers, they make fun of each other and put forth a front to validate their social designation.

The longer they talk the more they get under each other's skin; soon truths and inner demons start to emerge. By removing superficial peer pressure these teenagers can see how much they have in common.

Each one thinks they have problems the others cannot understand. As they share their hardships and views of the world, they find no answers, but they find unity and a cathartic reassurance that they are not alone.

Contrasting the teen perspective is the equally insightful is the assistant principle played by the dislikable Paul Gleason. He plays a judgmental bitter educator full of self-importance. His bullish character harbors the frustration of an adult who is not happy with how his life went and takes it out on young people he views as inferior.

The cast is sincere and the dialogue, direction, and writing are brilliant. The 80s soundtrack and style maintain a restrained charm that is very much of its time and yet the characters and situations are universal to all generations.