Movie I Should Have Seen Years Ago: The Breakfast Club

Finally saw it - I've essentially seen no brat pack movies, but we're out to change that. Anyway, some notes.

It's pretty good overall - I love movies that have one setting and a limited number of characters, so basically they just have to keep talking enough for something to change (like say Twelve Angry Men), so this movie gets points on that scale. If a movie is anywhere close to a situation where you can just limit the space, you might as well.

For the first half an hour most of the characters are pretty unlikable, but except for Judd Nelson, they're not insufferable - his character is just such a fucking jerk through most of the movie, and I know he has a difficult home life and all that, but really, there is just no excuse past a certain point. Several great different-people-bonding-together scenes, like the running back to the library scene, and the scene where they're all getting high, and the dancing scene, that would only be made better, as mentioned above by better music.

I was disappointed in the use of Don't You (Forget about Me). Sure, it's at the beginning and the end, but I was really hopeful for a climactic scene where everything is on the line, and all of a sudden the music starts - very uncreative. The soundtrack as a whole was kind of a let down as well - there were so many opportunities for huge definitive eighties soundtrack-moments which Breakfast Club eschewed in light of instrument music.

The romances at the end seem forced and completely unnecessary. Judd Nelson is pretty much a jerk for 3/4 of the movie, especially to Molly Ringwald and then out of nowhere they're together at the end, and Ally Sheedy is treated as a freak for 3/4 of the movie, and then suddenly she's made up by Molly Ringwald, and her and Emilio Estevez have an out of nowhere blossoming romance, both of which, especially the latter one had absolutely no signs or anything. Basically Judd is only interested in Ally after she changes her looks to the mainstream instead of being herself. Is this the behavior we want to encourage? Also, why of course is it that the nerdy guy is the only guy who ends out without someone? It just figures.

Edit: I accidentally switched up Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez. Now corrected