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The Breakfast Club
Metascore
62 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
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  1. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Brad Laidman
    80
    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.
  2. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    78
    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.
  3. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    Eminently watchable and consistently entertaining...It has a candor that is unexpected and refreshing in a sea of too-often generic teen-themed films.
  4. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jay Scott
    75
    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.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    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.
  6. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Joe Brown
    70
    Their conversations give The Breakfast Club its snap, crackle and pop. And this is that rare movie that could benefit from another half hour of talking time. [15 Feb 1985]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Dave Kehr
    70
    Comes to the comforting conclusion that they're just as alienated, idealistic, and vulnerable as the baby boomers of the 1960s.
  8. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    60
    Hughes, though he gives the material a sense of fun and achieves several moments of genuine warmth, too often resorts to obvious cliches, stereotypes, and easy answers, and throws in the near-obligatory rock video as well.
  9. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Elvis Mitchell
    60
    The five young stars would have mixed well even without the fraudulent encounter-group candor towardS which The Breakfast Club forces them. Mr. Hughes, having thought up the characters and simply flung them together, should have left well enough alone.
  10. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Pauline Kael
    40
    But all that this encounter-session movie actually does is strip a group of high-school kids down to their most banal longings to be accepted and liked. Its real emblem is that dreary, retro ribbon. [8 Apr 1985, p.123]
    All this critic's reviews
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    30
    Does director John Hughes really believe, as he writes here, that 'when you grow up, your heart dies.' It may. But not unless the brain has already started to rot with films like this.
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User Reviews

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User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 43 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. MKfan95
    10
    The Breakfast Club is without a doubt one of the greatest films of the 80's, while the setting is of the decade, the substantial quality of the film is timeless as the plot and characters are things that normal people like you or I can imagine ourselves in or relate to, aside from that, the interaction between the characters is fun, and the actors do a great job (Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy give two of my favorite performances here). Easily recommend to everyone.… Full Review »
  2. Doehl
    7
    Hughes is as contrived and caught up within his own little silly fantasies as ever, but his message that all teenagers are all the same on the inside remains one of the strongest counter-cultural propositions of its time and one of the most sincere.… Full Review »
  3. wildermovreview
    10
    I decided to review this film mainly as an excuse to see the film again (although it’s only a few months since I last saw it). The description of the film sounds awful. Five students get a detention! Seriously what kind of film is that and what strings did the director, producer and writer, the late John Hughes, have to pull the get it made? Most of the cast were relative unknowns, up and coming stars including Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy and Paul Gleason. The film is set almost in one location over the course of one Saturday. It is hardly the formula for a great movie. But for some reason the film turns out to be amazing. It went on to become the 16th highest grossing film of 1985 (the top film that year was Back to the Future). It is a true master class in film making. It shows what you can accomplish with the right script and the actors who can bring the characters to life. The cast is perfect, every one of them brings something great to the film from the teacher in charge of the detention, to the janitor. But for me the stand out performance is from Judd Nelson’s performance as John Bender. At the time Judd Nelson was 25 playing a 17/18 year old, but it took the maturity of age to play such a troubled and messed up character. A character who’s tough exterior hides the anguish of abuse. His is the most interesting journey in the film. The performances in it are so good because of the rest of the cast. Each actor feeds off the other actors performances and every one of them is better for it. This is what many films are missing, a great young talented cast putting it all out there. Other films that use this include The Outsiders, Young Guns, Red Dawn and St. Elmo’s Fire (coincidentally all apart from Red Dawn star Emilio Estevez but it does star his brother Charlie Sheen so I guess it must be in their genes!). I absolutely love this film. It is in my top movies of all time and I never get bored watching it. If you haven’t seen this film please give it a go. It is a true love it or hate it film. A film that can be watched over and over. A timeless classic.… Full Review »
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