Keith is the son of blue-collar parents, and he can't help but dream about life on the right side of the tracks. The odds are against him when he falls for a dreamy teen who comes from wealth and privilege, but he trudges forward with mechanic overalls in one hand and his best female friend in the other.
Does that synopsis sound familiar? It should, seeing as I basically copied the "Pretty in Pink" synopsis from above just as John Hughes copied his own "Pretty in Pink" script. That's not a complaint, by the way, as "Some Kind of Wonderful" fixes what's wrong with the earlier film in the form of a far more satisfying ending. Eric Stoltz takes the lead here as a teen pining for Lea Thompson when a tomboyish Mary Stuart Masterson is right there in front of him.
We still get humor, heart, and some class commentary along the way, but the film's core strength — in addition to its ending — is that both relationship possibilities are convincing. We can see and understand Keith's attraction to both girls, and theirs to him, and the ending's more affecting for it. The vacation didn't quite go as planned. This ridiculously funny tale sees a family discovering America while on the most ill-planned cross-country journey since the Donner Party.
While later sequels dumbed him down immensely, Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold is a far more believable and therefore empathetic character here. His blind optimism and desire for a good time quite often supersede his common sense, and the result is a great time for everyone but the Griswolds. Beverly D'Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, and Dana Barron make up the immediate family, and their interactions are humorously exaggerated reminders of time spent with our own families.
John Hughes' script, based on his own short story, finds a comedically-minded director in Harold Ramis who does great work crafting set pieces and delivering a pitch-perfect pace. It's an endlessly silly movie, albeit one grounded somewhat in reality, but even here Hughes' affection for family shines through.
A businessman struggling to get home to his family for Thanksgiving hits every speed bump and obstacle along the way. His bad luck continues when he finds himself needing the help of an overly-friendly salesman whose own luck seems even worse.
If you've read through this whole list or have simply seen the bulk of John Hughes' films you know that while comedy is typically the primary focus of his movies, the core themes typically revolve around family — both by blood and by choice. Steve Martin and John Candy star as the uptight businessman and the goofball, respectively, and their comedic pairing is as beautifully balanced as any you're likely to find as they banter, bicker, and share pillows whether Will Smith and Kevin Hart can reach those same dizzying heights remains to be seen.
The film absolutely nails both the frustrations of human interaction and the need for it, and it drives home the importance of being with loved ones when you need them most and helping others do the same. If you're not crying by the end of this one, my friend, you are a heartless knob. Sorry, I don't make the rules. A brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal are brought together for a full day of detention on a Saturday.
They arrive as strangers, but by the time they leave it will be as people who know each other — and themselves — far better than anyone else in their lives. Some of you undoubtedly think "The Breakfast Club" deserves the top spot on a list of the best John Hughes films, and I can't argue with that.
Hit me on a different day, and I might agree. It's a brilliantly constructed look at stock characters, the stereotypes we all knew from high school, and how those empty labels do far more harm than good. It's human nature to put ourselves and others in boxes, but while it makes things simpler on the surface, it has a tendency to obfuscate rather than illuminate. That's a heady way of saying this comedic drama is as insightful as it is entertaining. Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson shine as teens coming to understand themselves and their place in the world, and that awakening comes with humor, pain, and a badass vice principal whose "You mess with the bull, you get the horns" became an instantly iconic line.
We were these teens — hell, some of us are still those "teens" in our quieter, darker, or more hopeful moments. A teen named Ferris decides a skip day is in order mere weeks before his high school graduation, and with both his best friend and his girlfriend in tow, he heads out for a full day of fun in Chicago.
It's the good time he's hoping for, but the trio also finds so much more. Hughes' script is as zippy as it is insightful, as ridiculous as it is affecting, and Ferris' seemingly charmed life is an addictive pleasure. It takes a beat for his sister to accept that, to learn not to begrudge other people their successes, and it's just one of the film's nuggets of simple wisdom.
Be sure to stop and smell the roses, never pass up the opportunity to lipsync Wayne Newton, cardio can save your bacon someday, running a car in reverse rolls back the mileage There are just so many great sequences here, from the parking garage attendants joyriding through the city to the heartbreak in the museum to Ferris' desperate run through backyards to get home before his parents.
Paramount Pictures. Miracle on 34th Street , writer Twentieth Century Fox. Its strangeness sets it apart and makes it very special in the Hughes oeuvre. Instead of frustrated teens, he focused on a pair of equally frustrated adults — an ad exec Steve Martin trying to return home to his family for Thanksgiving and a traveling shower curtain ring salesman John Candy who keeps getting in his way. Together, the two travel from New York to Chicago, utilizing all of the aforementioned forms of transportation as well as buses and the back of a sixteen-wheeler carrying frozen meat and annoying each other endlessly.
Instead, he focuses almost all of his energy on the characters, giving us fully rounded, always surprising, incredibly layered roles for Candy and Martin. And rightfully so. In Ferris Bueller, Hughes created arguably his most iconic character, a lovable slacker who skips school, has the time of his life, and even managed to shake loose his stuff best friend. Of course, this could have gone horribly wrong.
What else are you going to do, not watch it? Maybe you were the princess or the head case or had previously been defined only by your athletic ability or academic prowess. Every song on the soundtrack became an instant classic how good is that Wang Chung song? And for good reason -- it really is a modern classic.
Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian The script combines a "dead teenager movie" formula — i.
Weekend at Bernie's — with the " teen sex movie" format, like American Pie , in an odd and clumsy way, leaning on the comic possibilities of goofy characters and wacky situations to carry it along.
The comedy latches on to stock characters rather than growing organically out of them, something that Hughes would eventually learn to do in spades. It is evident by the script that he was disappointed that he didn't get to go through with his original plan for Andie to wind up with her best friend Ducky, as pushy and obsessive as the young man could be. Instead, he wrote a gender-flipped story where a young man Eric Stoltz , ends up falling for his best friend after becoming aware of her hidden feelings.
The gender reversal works a bit better, and the script has its moments, despite being a transparent amendment; however, Some Kind of Wonderful also feels overly familiar, and would have benefitted from being more distinct.
Stoltz is paired well with a sympathetic Mary Stuart Masterson and a sweet, unattainable Lea Thompson, both of whom are perfect examples of how deftly Hughes wrote about people, particularly teens, struggling to figure out who they are.
European stereotypes about and retreads of old jokes abound, but the loose, easy delivery of humor keeps the film afloat. Clark makes for an endearingly winning "ugly American" trope, keeping the locals entertained even as he bumbles his way through several awkward tourist entanglements. The provincialism of the Griswolds is presented with a less heavy hand than the film could have gone for, and it works to its advantage. While the movie is perhaps the least-beloved of the Vacation franchise, it features memorable bits such as a Sisyphean roundabout, a Sound of Music parody, Ellen's inadvertent porn star status, and lederhosen-laden polka dancing.
The story about a young man having to face the realities of partnership after a romantic courtship is a more hefty tale than Hughes' usual fare, and the mature story manages to land — despite a bit of silliness here and there. There are moments that don't feel like a typical Hughes movie, like the fantasy sequences that, while entertaining, are somewhat baffling and distracting. The film, like many of Hughes' most memorable selections, is at its best when it is honest.
In a climactic sequence when Bacon witnesses McGovern undergoing a difficult and frightening labor to the sounds of Kate Bush's plaintive "This Woman's Work," the story makes its mark.
This teen fantasy film may seem the mere reflection of an adolescent boy's every dream dusted with bits from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , but Weird Science has something odd, goofy, and wonderfully silly to offer. Rather than conjuring up a witless sex object, the heroes Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith , are introduced to a woman Kelly LeBrock determined to teach them some life lessons about growing up and discovering the varied facets of masculinity.
In a premise that could easily have fallen into borderline-misogynistic territory, Hughes subverts expectations. The movie was the third success in a row for Hughes after The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles , and has reached status as a cult classic.
There is a surprising amount of sensitivity and thoughtfulness despite the premise, and a lot of it is due to how LeBrock executes her part, more as an advisor than lover, a gentle teacher, and a friend. The s began to see an influx of women entering the workforce, leading to a somewhat new cultural phenomenon: stay-at-home-dads. In Hughes explored this phenomenon with a bankable and likable star, Michael Keaton , at the forefront, and, though the film at times feels like the pilot of a sitcom, it has something interesting to say.
What it has to say is certainly dated by today's standards, but, as with She's Having a Baby , a solid leading man carries the premise into an inviting and whimsical territory. There are certainly moments wherein the movie doesn't quite rise out of being a concept instead of a story, but the entertainment value is there in Keaton's frenetic energy and affable charm.
There is no denying that Christmas Vacation is widely considered a holiday classic, showing up on viewers' favorite Christmas movie lists the world over. The sweet and ineffectual Clark Griswold returns with some holiday hijinks and extended family foibles, this time remaining at home instead of traversing far and wide.
Clark desperately wants everyone to have a nice Christmas, but inevitably chaos and misfortune ensue. As with most movies in the Vacation series, the film is memorable in its sequences, showcasing heightened comedic blunders, each more hair-raising than the last.
Although nothing in Christmas Vacation is particularly deep or thought-provoking, the story is touched with sweetness, offering some well-earned holiday cheer amidst the punch-drunk pandemonium. In another story about a father just trying to show his family a good time, the comedic talents of the actors are once again the highlight.
John Candy and Dan Aykroyd are in top form as the hapless dads who at first don't get along, but end up coming to an understanding.
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