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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 23 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by: John Hughes
Directed by: John Hughes
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 11, 1986
DVD: October 19, 1999
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13
Starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey, Cindy Pickett, Lyman Ward, and Charlie Sheen
Ferris Bueller. Larger than life. Blessed with a magical sense of serendipity. He's a model for all those who take themselves too seriously. A guy who knows the value of a day off. Ferris Bueller's Day Off chronicles the events in the day of a rather magical young man, Ferris (Broderick). One spring day, toward the end of his senior year, Ferris gives into an overwhelming urge to cut school and head for downtown Chicago with his girl (Sara) and his best friend (Ruck), to see the sights, experience a day of freedom and show that with a little ingenuity, a bit of courage and a red Ferrari, life at 17 can be a joy! (Paramount)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Sixteen Candles The Breakfast Club
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Time Richard Schickel
Ferris and his adventures represent a teen's dream of glory: to have, at one's fingertips, the technical skills to sabotage the adult world's machinery of oppression and, at the tip of one's tongue, the perfect squelch for grownups' moralistic blather. [23 June 1986]
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
When people think fondly of John Hughes, it's movies like Ferris Bueller that they're thinking of.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Staff (Not Credited)
This is the funniest teen movie I've seen in eons.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Brad Laidman
This is John Hughes' best teen film, and it's a call to arms to everyone in the world who doesn't want to follow society's lame-ass rules at the expense of living a cool life.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The film's heart is in the right place, and Ferris Bueller is slight, whimsical and sweet.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
It's basically a mindless paean to goofing off, with interludes of dubious seriousness. [16 June 1986]
The New York Times Nina Darnton
In this film [Hughes] has created a character who is every teen-ager's fantasy, but in the process he has lost some of the authenticity of his other films - leaving several slow transitions or awkward moments.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel
That the film doesn't live up to our anticipation of a rolicking good time is only part of its disappointment. [11 June 1986]
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
Paucity of invention here lays bare the total absence of plot or involving situations.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
The story and pacing of this offbeat comedy wear thin after the first 20 minutes.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Dave Kehr
The overriding impression is one of utter nihilism, as reflected in a world divided into bored, crassly materialistic teenagers on one side and doltish, unfeeling adults on the other.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon
One of the least appealing movies I've seen in a while.... When a member of the audience belched loudly, that got the biggest laugh of the day. [17 June 1986, p.26(E)]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
DLC gave it a4:
Old movie full of 80's.Somehow without a plot, a meaning, a sense.The beginning is nice,when Broderick talk into camera and show his inventions to evade. But the characters of people are completely absent. The girl seems a doll,the friend a future psychopath flat from a father that not exist if not in the car, the relatives absolutely unrealistic. A dream that can never be realistic. Absolutely deviating and poor.
J C gave it a10:
It's funny how some of those 'professional' critics simply didn't get the point of the film, and thought it was a crass movie with no moral or message in the story.
Phil L gave it a9:
FUNNY, FUNNY and did I mention that it's FUNNY?
M.G. gave it a10:
You are INSANE if you don't love this 80's cult classic...it is one of if not the best movie from that time...the only one i like about as much is breakfast club.
Chris M gave it a10:
Come on. This movie is such a classic it's ridiculous. Beyond that it is hilarious. Who doesn't watch at least part of it every time it's on t.v.
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
A suprisingly good movie. MAkes the 80's feel like the present, and makes your own world look a bit more fun, if only a little bit.
Steve-O A. gave it a 10:
This has to be my favorite 80s movies ever. Possibly my favorite ever. The only part that was kind of gay was when the car got wrecked and it got all touchy feely for a bit, but that's nothing, the perfect teen movie!
