Playing Hookey

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Paramount Pictures

Written, Produced and Directed by John Hughes

YOU'LL RECOGNIZE a lot of Ferris Bueller's Day Off the first time you see it. Like Joel in Risky Business, Ferris takes on a catchy motto (though "Life goes fast. If you don't watch out, you could miss it" just can't compare with "Sometimes you just gotta say `What the fuck."') and deceives all authority figures.

Like James Bond, Ferris (Matthew Broderick), who pretends to be sick from high school in order to go escapading with friends in Chicago, uses devilish charm, outlandish technology and incredibly good luck, to escape being caught by a school administrator. Like Woody Allen, Ferris soliloquizes into the camera.

Paradoxically, it is in part because of obvious references and similarities to other archetypal comedies ("The name's Bueller. Ferris Bueller."), that "Day Off" is so miraculously original and funny. You've seen these comic devices before, but never all combined, and probably not with such a slick script and hilarious acting.

This is the type of movie that, like Risky Business and the Saturday Night Lives of yore, will have you recalling amusing sequences for weeks afterward.

Broderick is brilliant as the title character. As Ferris he is charismatic, magnanimous, ironic, confident and independent, yet cutely boyish. Once you've seen Broderick, it's difficult to imagine any other actor playing a character innocent enough to get away with faking illness to his loving mother, and cunning enough to set up a bizarre array of equipment to cover for his not being home.

While his stereo snores, his mannequin tosses and turns under his covers, and his intercom tells visitors he is too weak to answer the door, Ferris is busy living it up in Chicago with his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara), the latter of whom he has deviously rescued from school.

Girlfriend. Living it up. Where's the sex? Well, there really isn't any, aside from a couple a smooches, but that's all right. Instead of Ferris ditching Cameron and getting it on with Sloane (certainly an enviable proposition, for Sara oozes sex), the three friends go to a ballgame, crash a fancy restaurant in jeans, see Ferris dominate a parade, and run smack into Ferris' father. Meanwhile, a couple of parking lot attendents are joyriding Cameron's father's limited edition Ferrari.

Sound like fun viewing? It is. The scene when the high schoolers' taxi pulls up next to Mr. Bueller's is an absolute classic.

Adding to the hilarity is the dean of students, Mr. Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), who has decided that Ferris, the darling of his school, has made a fool of him one too many times. Rooney is modeled on a mixture of Inspector Clouseau and his boss, who, as you may remember, in one movie aspired to kill his clueless detective (you even get to hear a refrain of the Pink Panther theme).

Though Rooney doesn't end up in a funny farm like Clouseau's boss did, he does end up covered with dirt, bitten by Ferris's dog, and beaten up by his younger sister. Jones, who spends much of his time leering with pathological hatred of Ferris, gives a fine performance as the hapless dean. Of the other members of the cast, Alan Ruck is superlative in his supporting role, and Jennifer Grey is also good as Ferris's bratty and jealous younger sister.

Mia Sara, however, is a bit of a sore spot, as is the character she plays. Unlike Broderick, who although well into his twenties, plays his role to perfection, Sara is too sophisticated and mature-looking to play the role of a high school junior. She fails to complement Broderick's boyishness.

But even if Sara were Broderick's counterpart, Sloane would be little more than an ornament on Ferris's crown. Only rarely does she seem a real part of the movie's spirited action. The character of Sloane is not half as well developed as those of Cameron and Ferris.

But despite those faults, it's difficult to see how a movie as fun as Ferris Bueller's Day Off can possibly avoid becoming this summer's most popular comedy. Don't expect the movie to be profound, or for that matter, even realistic. But you can expect to laugh right through the surprising closing lines.