When you think about the best movies ever made, it won’t take too long before your mind is sent back to the ’80s. The ’80s redefined cinema, helping to bring sub-genres like sci-fi and fantasy into the mainstream, while the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone churned out constant action classics. But when it comes to comedies (and teen comedies specifically) you can’t beat Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Starring Matthew Broderick in the lead role, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is regarded as one of the best ’80s movies, and one of the best movies of all time from any era. Centering on Broderick’s charismatic and popular Ferris Bueller, a high-school senior, the film followed its characters as they skip school in order to spend a day in Chicago, getting into plenty of trouble along the way while being pursued by a vindictive Dean of Students.
There’s an element of fantasy in the film, one of the best comedy movies from the ’80s, and you’ve probably wished – at some point in your life – that you could be more like Ferris Bueller. Alongside the like of Back to the Future’s Marty McFly, he’s something of an ’80s archetype: young, energetic, willing to break the rules, and charming. But while it might be fun to spend a day with Ferris Bueller, not even Matthew Broderick would want to actually be the character for real.
“No, I don’t think I would [like to be Ferris Bueller],” he said while promoting his new movie, in an interview with Roy Faires from back in 1986. “It’d be too tiring, he runs around too much.”
Speaking more broadly about the movie, and his iconic character, Broderick also said he’d never actually met anyone quite like Bueller before in real life. “I had to treat him as real in playing him. He’s certainly a real character, but the things he does border on fantasy. It takes off, but he’s a real guy… I know people a little like him, but nobody who goes as far as he does. He really is pretty outrageous.”
It might be a fun life to lead for an hour, but as Broderick says, being Ferris Bueller for real would be far too tiring, and far too outrageous. And nobody really wants that for their whole life.
Since starring as Ferris Bueller, Broderick has continued to cement himself as a legend of the comedy genre, starring in countless movies and TV shows including the recent No Hard Feelings opposite Jennifer Lawrence. You can read our No Hard Feelings review for more on that.
If you want to stick with ’80s classics, see our picks for the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and our ranking of every James Cameron movie. Or, if you love comedy, check out our thoughts on the best comedy series of all time.
To keep up with all the new movies this year, read our The Meg 2 review, and check out the 10 Barbie Easter eggs you probably missed.