The Breakfast Club

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  • Opened February 15, 1985 
  • 1 hr 37 min
  • R
  • Parents: Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+. More on child suitability

  • Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal (Paul Gleason). The disparate group includes rebel John (Judd Nelson), princess Claire (Molly Ringwald), outcast Allison (Ally Sheedy), brainy Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) and Andrew (Emilio Estevez), the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Paul Gleason
  • Director: John Hughes
  • Genres: Comedy Drama, Teen Movie, Coming-of-Age, Ensemble Film

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Critic Reviews

80
Film Threat
| Brad Laidman

This could have been an unmitigated disaster, but Hughes' way with the material ensured it a special place in the heart of just about everyone who happened to be in high school while Ronald Reagan was President. Read full review

78
Austin Chronicle
| Marjorie Baumgarten

Before lapsing into the land of the insipid,... John Hughes actually made a few movies that shined some light on the trials of modern adolescence. The Breakfast Club is one of them. Read full review

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
| Jay Scott

For all its contrivance, it's lively and amusing and occasionally disconcerting in its reproduction of what life was like in the mid-to-late teens. Read full review

75
Entertainment Weekly
| Ty Burr

From the neon-sign opening titles to the derivative angst of the dialogue, it's a touchstone of '80s pop culture, and a schizophrenic one, too. Read full review

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