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Created Dec 01, 2010 08:54PM PST • Edited Mar 31, 2018 11:07PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Fun for kids of all ages, Ferris Bueller’s harmless hi-jinks, energetic panache and gentle farce make it the ultimate ditch day movie. Matthew Broderick will be forever associated with the title character, a charming conniver prone to belting out a Beatles song in the middle of a parade.

   John Hughes crafted this joyous bit of mainstream entertainment during his mid-Eighties heyday.

   Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Boyishly charming Matthew Broderick was still capable of playing a boy when he made Ferris Bueller, even though he was well into his twenties at the time. It remains his signature role. While barely credible as a high school ladykiller, he’s got more than enough panache to pull off the near vaudevillian aspects of this role, including a great song-and-dance number in the middle of a parade.

   Other notables:

   • Jennifer Grey – who just won “Dancing with the Stars” – plays his pissed-off sister.
   • Charlie Sheen cameos as a delinquent in police custody.
   • Ben Stein drones hypnotically as an out-of-touch teacher.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    John Hughes movies aren’t for everybody, though this one comes closest. He made it right in the middle of his mid-Eighties run at the top, just after Weird Science and before Planes, Trains & Automobiles (perhaps his best movie). His use of direct-to-the-audience dialog and a bravura song-and-dance number liven up what would otherwise be a routine comedy.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Very Good 3.5

13. Music Great 4.0

    The Twist & Shout scene is pure joy. Excellent choice to have Ferris lip sync to John Lennon and the Beatles.

    Shake it up baby now!

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.1

17. Sex Innocent 1.2

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Polite 1.2

21. Reality

    Glib 1.7

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.1

23. Biological Glib 1.6

24. Physical Glib 1.3