Which leaves, well, Charlie. And Charlie sucks. The way he actually gets popular was ludicrous (selling drugs and then giving therapy). If they took this conceit over the top, it might have been okay, but they try and ground the movie in reality. Instead of expelling the kid, the movie's script forces the principle to let him go on two occasions. It's all really far fetch.

Now as for the acting. Holy GOD was he bad. I wanted to break his face in at every single opportunity. When the bully kicked the crap out of him, I cheered. Hard. Ferris was the coolkid that EVERYONE wanted tohang with and you felt the exact same way. Bartlett is the cool kid solely due to the script making him so.

And don't even mention his "dramatic" encounter with Downey near the end at the side of the pool. Paris Hilton can emote better, and the only face she has is "slut".

It would have been an excellent essay, if only the paint thinner had held out long enough for me to finish it.

The funny thing is, the real good guy in that movie is Rooney. True, he's not the most likable guy in the world, but he happens to be RIGHT. Ferris, the lying cheating weasel, deserves to be punished. However, through Rooney's ineptness and Jeanie's unfortunate change of heart brought on by the unconditional love for one's family, Ferris eludes his punishment.

Fortunately, as Sloan was most surely impregnated with his damaged seed by the end of the film, Ferris was hopefully given a reality check. Life isn't all about having your own fucking way all the time. It's not going to happen, Ferris Bueller. No matter how many people you manipulate or destroy. You have to provide for your bastard child now.

Though I fear that he may have pressured Sloan into aborting. I would not put it past him, the heartless son of a bitch.

Notice his behavior toward the parking garage attendant. Ferris asks if he speaks English, very condescendingly. He then gives the guy a small tip and looks utterly full of himself in his pretentious beret.

I remember this great, old movie, must have been from the '50s. Might have even been like a PLAYHOUSE 90 thing because it was only about an hour long. It's about a little kid who plays with a cap gun in NYC. His old brother and his brother's friends trick the kid into thinking the kid has shot the little brother. The kid runs away to Coney Island. The old brother has to get him back to Brooklyn or the Bronx or whatever before Mom gets home from work (I'm assuming Dad was killed invading Normandy or something).

Now, if this movie were made today, the little kid would be horrified and never play with guns again. But in the Good Old Days, the show ends with the kid in front of the TV, shooting at cowboys.

He didn't learn nuttin'! And it wasn't ironic either.

Of course Ferris is unaware of this as he smiles smugly into the camera at the end, content that he has done the impossible and gotten away with it. That smile is the smile of the cat who got the cream.

It's a late 80s syndrome, to be cool you must be a douche, look at Parker Lewis

Then later, after they have used the car to pick up Sloan, Ferris does not take it back to the house as he promised, his excuse being, "If you had access to a car like this, would you take it back right away? I didn't think so." He then proceeds to cackle maniacally, stomping the accelerator to the floor, throwing Cameron into the backseat. Sloan grins seductively at Ferris as she caresses his inner thigh. Ferris looks into the camera, his eye squinching into a wink of the purest decadence you will ever see.

In shooting the film, Matthew Broderik came across as sunnier and more likable. Also, Hughes discovered that his movie wasn't very good. Luckily, he worked with an expert editor who taught him that with the right editing, he could effectively rewrite his script after the movie had been shot. Things like Ferris and Jeannie's younger siblings, Ferris cashing out his savings bonds, Ferris talking about smoking pot with Garth (the Charlie Sheen character) were lost. What had been THE BREAKFAST CLUB ON A FIELD TRIP became about the joys of being young.

Hughes was old enough at the time to understand that while kids can be vile little bastards, it's rarely with true malice. For all his gifts and potential, Ferris was incredibly naive in the adult world. Events worked out for him because Hughes also understood his audiences fantasies. Hey, at age 20, if I'd tried to take a date into Le Chateau Snotty, they'd have taken a look at our ripped shirts, band buttons and her pink hair and tossed us into the street.

Ferris was still learning. He saw way more in Cameron and Sloane than they saw in themselves. He tried to treat them as equals as much as they would allow. (When I first saw the movie, and Ferris started talking about of the blue about Cameron never being in love -- which hadn't been an issue until that moment, all Cam's problems seemed family oriented, I was still immature enough myself to think that maybe Ferris would pass Sloane on to Cameron, as if you could actually give your girlfriend to a buddy. Of course, it didn't help that Sloane and Cameron actually had more of a connection to each other than either did to Ferris). Ferris helped the freshmen -- or said he would -- and he was a good enough friend to Garth that Garth risked the loss of a testicle by recommending that Jeannie talk to him.

Heck, I can even imagine Ferris saving Rooney's job for him ... then blackmailing him.