| | | One Man's Struggle to Take it Easy.
Ferris Bueller. Larger than life. Blessed with a magical sense of serendipity. He's a model for all those who take themselves too seriously. A guy who knows the value of a day off.Ferris Bueller's Day Off chronicles the events in the day of a rather magical young man, Ferris (Matthew Broderick). One spring day, toward the end of his senior year, Ferris gives in to an overwhelming urge to cut school and head for downtown Chicago with his girl (Mia Sara) and his best friend (Alan Ruck), to see the sights, experience a day of freedom, and show that, with a little ingenuity, a bit of courage and a red Ferrari, life at 17 can be a joy!
"Broderick is amiably charismatic and high school dean Jones almost matches him in comic skill." Channel 4 Film
"The pinnacle of Director John Hughes career. A comedy gem!" Clint Morris, MovieHole
"...funny, satiric, bright, and inventive...with an exhilarating finish." John J. Puccio, DVD Town
"When people think fondly of John Hughes, it's movies like Ferris Bueller that they're thinking of." Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
"Eminently quotable and very, very fun." Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Editor's Note
Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is a tricky but harmless fast-talker. But he knows how to have fun, which is exactly what he sets out to do when he feigns illness and talks his parents into letting him stay home from school. The perpetually lucky Ferris enlists his hypochondriac best friend, Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck), into springing his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara), from class, and the three embark on a raucous downtown Chicago adventure. From Wrigley Field to the Art Institute of Chicago to a Polish pride parade, Ferris and his friends make the most of their day off. But Ferris, Sloane, and Cameron might not get away with playing hooky. Ferris's sister, Jeanie (Jennifer Grey), is determined to prove that Ferris is faking sick and make him pay for it, and the bumbling school dean, Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), is sure that Ferris is pulling a fast one. Another classic from writer-director John Hughes (SIXTEEN CANDLES, THE BREAKFAST CLUB), this film features a star turn from Broderick as the charismatic Ferris. Watch for Charlie Sheen as the juvenile delinquent in the police station and comedian Louie Anderson in a brief appearance as a flower deliveryman.
Plot Summary
Conniving Shermer, Illinois, high school student Bueller spends his ninth school absence in the company of his kvetchy best friend, Cameron, and girlfriend Sloane, tearing through downtown Chicago on a mad quest for fun. The ruse seems perfect, right down to Cameron's dad's "borrowed" Ferrari, but Ferris's nemesis, high school principal Ed Rooney, is determined to bring the truants to justice.
| Features | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 10/13/2009 |
| Running Time: 102 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1986 | | Catalog ID: 142924 | | UPC: 00097361429243 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Golden Globe (1987) | | | Matthew Broderick, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical |
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...Jones is pricelessly funny...[He gives an] absolutely delicious comic performance..." 06/04/1986Los Angeles Times
"...The film's hook is a tantalizing fantasy for adults as well as kids..." 06/20/1986 p.C3 Total Film
"...Beautifully written and acted, this is John Hughes' finest film..." 08/01/2003 p.129 Entertainment Weekly
"...Hughes' flattering portrait of a prankish high school Uberteen..." 01/11/2002 p.37 Uncut
"[W]ish fulfillment for the pre-Nirvana generation. Crisp fun..." 11/01/2004 p.160 Entertainment Weekly
"John Hughes' mid-'80s paean to free-spirited defiance and karmic coolness appealed to just about everyone." -- Grade: A- 01/13/2006 p.58 Total Film
5 stars out of 5 -- "[F]rom picture-postcard Chicago cityscapes to achingly funny situations, from stand-up-and-cheer set-pieces to that eye-popping Ferrari, this is a film that leaves you aching to phone in sick." 06/01/2006 p.128 Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Here is one of the most innocent movies in a long time, a sweet, warm-hearted comedy about a teenager who skips school so he can help his best friend win some self-respect. The therapy he has in mind includes a day's visit to Chicago, and after we've seen the Sears Tower, the Art Institute, the Board of Trade, a parade down Dearborn Street, architectural landmarks, a Gold Coast lunch and a game at Wrigley Field, we have to concede that the city and state film offices have done their jobs: If "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" fails on every other level, at least it works as a travelogue...It does, however, work on at least a few other levels. The movie stars Matthew Broderick as Ferris, a bright high school senior from the North Shore who fakes an illness so he can spend a day in town with his girlfriend, Sloane (the astonishingly beautiful Mia Sara) and his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck)...The body of the movie is a lighthearted excursion through the Loop, including a German-American Day parade in which Ferris leaps aboard a float, grabs a microphone and starts singing "Twist and Shout" while the marching band backs him up. The teens fake their way into a fancy restaurant for lunch, spend some time gawking at the masterpieces in the Art Institute, and then go out to Wrigley Field..."Ferris Bueller" was directed by John Hughes, the philosopher of adolescence, whose credits include "16 Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink." In all of his films, adults are strange, distant creatures who love their teenagers, but fail completely to understand them. That's the case here, all right: All of the adults, including a bumbling high-school dean (Jeffrey Jones), are dim-witted and one-dimensional. And the movie's solutions to Cameron's problems are pretty simplistic. But the film's heart is in the right place, and "Ferris Bueller" is slight, whimsical and sweet. - Roger Ebert
Reel.com 9 of 10
Who among Generation X doesn't like--love--Ferris Bueller? Sure, John Hughes made lots of era- and generation-defining movies in the '80s, but this, alongside Breakfast Club, was his crowning glory, equally appealing to all teenagers, regardless of gender or social status...The story is simple: a high-school senior (Matthew Broderick) plays hooky one day and takes his girlfriend (Mia Sara) and his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck), along for the ride. Surely if those characters existed and grew up, they never would have forgotten that day, and neither have those of us who experienced it with them. Ferris outwits the evil principal, Mr. Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) and his parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, who married in real life after the film wrapped), pisses off his sister (Jennifer Grey), and elicits sympathy from everyone else--schoolmates and teachers alike. What high school kid, from any era, doesn't have that fantasy?...That's precisely what Ferris Bueller's Day Off is: a fantasy. That's the genius of John Hughes: he stretches plausibility without breaking it completely. There is nothing anywhere in the film that isn't possible. The situations just aren't very likely, from Ferris' amazing contraptions to the principal just barely missing the truant trio on the jumbotron at a baseball game. Add that to very realistic emotions, ground it with strong performances, and you've got a timeless classic...Kids today might see Ferris Bueller the way the Ferris Bueller generation saw Doris Day or Gidget: too simple, too uncomplicated. But we'd hazard a guess that they'll appreciate it for the deeper resonance. The haircuts may seem funny--they are funny--and the music might seem off an oldies' station, but the quest of kids to outwit adults, a primary theme among Hughes films, from Breakfast Club to Home Alone, is timeless. - Sarah Chauncey
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