Watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off whilst feeling unwell yourself is surely one of life’s cruellest ironies. Thinking I was letting myself in for 99 minutes of laid-back laughs, little did I know I would be almost green with envy by the end of this very 80’s American movie. Watching Ferris Bueller successfully navigate the perils of throwing a school sickie whilst enjoying just about every possible benefit that could possibly come with it does not really make you feel any better yourself when you’re high on Lemsip and Vitamin C tablets.
That’s not to say that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off isn’t a great movie. The film doesn’t take itself seriously but manages to avoid the potholes that a lot of modern movies fall into of being overly corny/ cheesy/ insultingly unrealistic. Much like the character of Ferris Bueller, the nature of the film is relaxed, easy going and pretty easy to get along with. You kind of get the impression that a lot of film directors and producers have tried to follow where Ferris Bueller once trod on his day off and probably haven’t been successful. This is a film that’s nearly impossible to dislike. That’s not something you can say about a lot of modern movies.
It’s difficult to try and pin-point why this might be. I liked the way some scenes just seemed to organically become bigger and bigger without you really being aware that anything had shifted or changed. An example of this is the scene where Ferris leads a rendition of ‘Twist and Shout’ in the middle of the street and suddenly, before you know it, everyone everywhere in Chicago has joined in. I honestly can’t think of anything more fun than to have been an extra in this scene- it looks like the biggest, most spontaneous party ever to hit a big screen!
In my slightly hazy and unwell state, one thing that did rattle me was the senseless destruction of the Ferrari California Spyder. This is surely one of the most beautiful handmade cars of all time and I did find myself struggling to cope when the car memorably reverses out of the glass garage and down a steep drop. Only learning that all Ferrari’s used in the filming of the movie were models has alleviated some of the pain! Credit must be due to the model department for their realistic creations!
All in all, Ferris Bueller is one of those classic, easy going movies. It’s difficult to think of Ferris living in anything other than the best day of summer, his popularity as high as the blue, American skies that are in every scene of the movie. Ferris Bueller is a man who will seemingly have everything forever. And as if to cap it all, my sister has walked into the room, had one look at the Ferris Buelller’s Day Off DVD box (bearing a laid-back photo of Ferris Bueller) and said “wow, don’t you think that guy is really good looking?” I guess some people really do have it all...