Thursday, October 31, 2013

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

One of the few individuals I plan on dressing up as this weekend is the one and only Ferris Bueller (which is no accident, as this is one of my favorite films).  "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" follows the title character around the streets of Chicago, for one day, as he skips school to enjoy life with his friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and girlfriend Sloan (Mia Sara).  This piece is a "coming of age film", that shows us the one thing that we all need, is to break free from our routine to enjoy life.  In a way we see a lot of wisdom in Ferris that many people don't achieve much later in life.  If there is one mantra that describes his actions and this wisdom it is the following:


Ferris (Matthew Broderick) is a high school senior who decides to feign illness to escape from one day of high school.  He manages to completely snow his parents, by using some interesting methods:


The only people standing in his way are Edward Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), Dean of Students, who knows that Ferris has already been absent nine times this semester and his sister, Jeanie (Jennifer Grey).  Rooney wants more than anything to catch Ferris in the act of skipping school, with the possibility of preventing his graduation.  This want sends Rooney chasing Ferris throughout all of Chicago!  Jeanie has serious issue with the fact that Ferris is the family favorite, who manages to coast his way through life.  Once Ferris snows his parents, he proceeds to get his best friend and girl friend out of school as well.  Once he succeeds, they spend the day in downtown Chicago, getting into the most intense shenanigans.  One of the most famous scenes is below:


Not only do we get to see Ferris in a parade, but we also see Sloan and Cameron discussing why they should go to college.  What do they want to do with their lives?  Cameron also struggles through the fact that Ferris has life figured out so much more than he does, a re-occuring theme in the film.  This type of scene is pretty typical of John Hughes' writing style in Ferris Bueller (Hughes also directed and produced this film).  For every funny moment in this film, there is also a really poignant moment about what it means to grow up and discover oneself.  Ferris Bueller's Day Off is in my top ten movies for sure, as all aspects of this film manage to come together into a hilarious, and endearing comedy.

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