Ferris Bueller's Day Off

John Hughes once again proves that he is the reigning philosopher of 80's teen movies. There's a charm and even an intelligence to his films that are sorely lacking the teen comedies of today. Matthew Broderick is Ferris Bueller who seems to be a legend in his own time -- he's cunning, charming, one of the most popular kids in schools, and nothing ever goes wrong for him (unlike his sister and the hapless school principal for whom everything goes wrong). He fakes being sick for a day, grabs his best friend, and sneaks his girlfriend out of school for a day on the town. His goal is make his best friend happy who has been long depressed due to an unhappy home life. It's funny, it understands the high school mentality, and it has some likeable performances. This is about as good as one can expect from a teen movie.