The Poster Memorabilia blog

The Lost Fun of Ferris Bueller's Day Off

A New York stage door, a decade of patience, and the one movie worth taking a day off for.

By an anonymous Hollywood insider

They don't make movies like Ferris Bueller's Day Off anymore, do they? Any teen movie I see today is either a mushy rom-com or a sex-filled dramedy where the “teenagers” are played by a bunch of twenty- or thirty-year-olds. They're not the same as John Hughes' awesome teen flicks where the youth had fun, but were also taken seriously.

The movie industry really lost a big one when John Hughes stopped directing films in the 1990s and passed away in 2009. He made the best youth-oriented movies we ever saw. He treated his teen characters seriously, not as the butt of a joke or as a pack of hormones with nothing going on upstairs.

His movies were deep and emotional but still fun and entertaining. And you don't need to look any further than Ferris Bueller's Day Off, one of his underrated gems.

I say that it's underrated because his other movies tend to dominate the conversation around his works. People usually mention The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Pretty in Pink, but not always this one. It's still beloved, but not as much as I think it deserves.

The film tells the story of the titular Ferris Bueller, played amazingly by Matthew Broderick, who skips school and goes on a day off of epic proportions. If you haven't seen it yet, you wouldn't believe how much trouble one teenager gets into in just a day. He even ropes his best friend and his girlfriend, Cameron and Sloane, into his shenanigans too. It's a whole lot of fun!

Some might say the story is stupid, a bit too fantastical, and I get that. But it's this cynicism that, in my opinion, makes it difficult for another John Hughes to make these sorts of films today. Everything has to be realistic, contain a message, and not be offensive. I feel stifled by all of it, so what more for today's filmmakers?

✦ ✦ ✦

Fortunately, Hughes made this movie at the right time, and thanks to streaming, we can watch it anytime. But that was never gonna be enough for me.

I love the movie so much that I bought its movie poster and got it signed by the cast themselves. I spent a good chunk of my early 30s in the 2010s chasing down its big stars. Some were easier than others, and I never really got to complete the whole cast.

I was still pretty lucky since I live in New York City, where Matthew Broderick also lives. I met him at the stage door of one of his plays in 2015 and got his autograph. He was one of the nicest celebrities I ever met, and I ended up liking Ferris Bueller more because of it.

“You can bet I'll take a day off for that!”

It took me the rest of the decade, and well into the 2020s, to get the others, but I didn't care. I was happy the cast was still alive and well and that most of them were nice. I know they had a virtual reunion in 2020, but I think they deserve a bigger, in-person event.

The film turned 40 this June, and while Broderick and Ruck marked it together on TV, the full gang still hasn't gotten the in-person reunion they deserve. So perhaps a 45th anniversary screening in 2031? I'm hoping for it. And you can bet I'll take a day off for that!

Some things you watch. This one you keep.

Guaranteed authentic for life • 90-day returns, any reason