Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
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A charismatic high school slacker orchestrates a grand adventure through Chicago on his day off.
The story
Two months before graduation, high school senior Ferris Bueller fakes an illness to stay home from school. While his sister Jeanie is suspicious of his ruse, he successfully fools his parents. However, the school's dean, Edward R. Rooney, becomes determined to expose Ferris's frequent absences. To ensure his girlfriend Sloane can also skip school, Ferris convinces his hypochondriac best friend Cameron to pose as her father. The trio then embarks on a day-long excursion through the city of Chicago, navigating various landmarks and trying to evade Rooney's attempts to catch them in the act of truancy.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Ferris Bueller fakes an illness to skip school, leading to a confrontation with the stern Dean Rooney. To get his girlfriend Sloane out of school, Ferris has his friend Cameron pose as her father. The trio takes a stolen Ferrari on a tour of Chicago, visiting the Art Institute and attending a Cubs game. Meanwhile, Rooney stalks the Bueller home, where Jeanie eventually knocks him out. After a series of mishaps involving a damaged car and a frantic search for their belongings, the group manages to evade Rooney's final pursuit. Ferris ultimately manages to convince his parents he was at the hospital, while Rooney is left humiliated on a school bus.
- First release year
- 1986
- Runtime (minutes)
- 103
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Hughes
- Writers
- John Hughes · writer
- Cast and characters
- Matthew Broderick · Ferris Bueller; Mia Sara · Sloane Peterson; Alan Ruck · Cameron Frye; Jennifer Grey · Jeanie; Jeffrey Jones · Rooney; Cindy Pickett · Grace; Edie McClurg · Katie; Lyman Ward · Tom; Charlie Sheen · Garth Volbeck
- Genres
- comedy; coming-of-age
- Tone and mood
- humorous; lighthearted
- Premise and plot tags
- high school; road trip
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, who praised Broderick's performance, and the film's humor and tone.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 85% · scale: percentage · review count: 149; Metacritic · score: 61 · scale: score · review count: 13
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Globe Award · Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy · 1987 · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 2014.; The script was written by John Hughes in less than a week.; The film features a real 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder for close-up shots.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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