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Like a soda pop left open all night,
Bueller seems to have lost its effervescence over time. Sure, Matthew Broderick is still appealing as the perennial truant, Ferris, who fakes his parents out and takes one memorable day off from school. Jeffrey Jones is nasty and scheming as the principal who's out to catch him. Jennifer Grey is winning as Ferris's sister (who ends up making out in the police station with a prophetic vision of Charlie Sheen). But there's a definite sense that this film was of a particular time frame: the '80s. It's still fun, though. There's Ferris singing "Twist and Shout" during a Chicago parade, and a lovely sequence in the Art Institute. But don't get it and expect your kids to love it the way you did. Like it or not, it's yours alone.
--Keith Simanton
Review
If the mention of Ferris Bueller's Day Off doesn't call to mind late-night slumber parties with the VCR and the realization that you, too, would have sold your soul to sing "Twist and Shout" to the accompaniment of a marching band, then you're probably not of the era that grew up venerating John Hughes' films. This is one of the director's best efforts, and as a result, the film enjoys the immortality that comes with being part of a generation's collective consciousness. Beyond Bueller's cult status lies a movie that is goofy and slapstick, but also endearingly sweet and even philosophical. Matthew Broderick imbues Ferris with the just the right level of smirky, confident, collar-up attitude for 1980s teenage fantasy. There are effortless, enthusiastic turns from the supporting players as well, with Jeffrey Jones shining particularly in the enviable role of the over-zealous high-school principal Ed Rooney. Even the tinier roles are memorable: look for great cameos from Ben Stein and Charlie Sheen. Hughes makes up for some mid-movie flatness with a riotous final sequence (make sure you stay through the credits). As with Hughes' other masterpiece, The Breakfast Club, there are broader themes regarding status, friendship, authority, and emotional neglect that will resonate with anyone who's found himself or herself in that void between childhood and adulthood called "high school." ~ Matthew Doberman, All Movie Guide
