A BLAST FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD - WELL, MINE ANYWAY : "FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF"

Oh my God. I have rarely had so much regret flooding through me as I watched a film. Regret that I hadn’t watched this film much, much earlier. No effing wonder this film is such a favourite with so many people from my own generation. I never saw it. It didn’t get much of an airing over in Turkey. But hey, I’ve seen things like it and I LOVED them all. This is why, although as I watched this film for the first time there was no doubt in my mind at all that I had grown out of it a while back, neither could I actually turn it off. Classic of a certain era. Definitely.

Ferris Bueller is a high school wise guy. He may only be a senior, but he knows every trick in the book and he can play his unsuspecting parents and teachers like a fiddle, much to the annoyance of his sister Genie. When one of the first, beautiful, warm days of summer finally dawns on the town, there is no question whatsoever of Ferris going to school and wasting it. So it’s a day off. And if he has a day off, so does his girlfriend Sloane and best friend Cameron. Despite the protests of the highly strung Cameron, off they go into town, in no less than Cameron’s father’s prize, antique red Ferrari. But even with Ferris’ seemingly never-ending luck there are enemies to defeat. The school headmaster – Ferris’ arch-nemesis - parents popping up in odd places and an interfering sister. Kids sometimes really do just want to have fun… But how much can Ferris really get away with?

You recognise the type of humour, right? It’s the exact same genre as the Home Alone series starring Macaulay Culkin.  Charming, wise-cracking kid versus bumbling parents. The kid being ingenious, winning out in every situation, “getting the girl in the end” as it were. Well, not in the Home Alone series to be fair. But you get the picture. I mean, of course Ferris has a girlfriend who “tags along” – how could he be such a popular high-school student if he didn’t – but of course the “bumbling best friend” trope is also used, for comedy and as a chaperone. Hey, come on people, it was 1986, they still had standards of that sort back in the day.

Ok, so this film is not for anyone who is looking for a “serious cinematic experience”. In fact, if you are watching it for the first time in your late 20s – early 30s or later, you know what, you are a tad too late. Oh you will love it though. It reminds you of so many things from way back when you were tiny. Not less how little it took to make us happy and entertain us back in the day. Even though I am not that old, I feel a clear generation gap between myself and people a mere ten years younger than me. (I mean, I had a fascinating conversation with colleagues about ten years younger than me who told me they all had difficulty using watches. Phones were easier because they “told you the time right away”. If you had a watch you had to stop and think what time it was. Imagine their shock when they saw my watch, one of those super-minimalist numbers with no numbers on the face. As a side note, I have since taken to showing them the watch and telling them to figure it out if they ask me the time. I know, I’m annoying. ). So there you go. A time capsule from a rather underrated period of time – late eighties – early nineties. A must see for anyone with ties to that period. If nothing else, as you just saw, it’s the perfect excuse for a good rant.   

Note : Yes, that IS a young Charlie Sheen in the police station :)