Elyse Stefanowicz - Ferris Buller's Day Off

Ferris Buller's Day Off
1986
Director - John Hughes

This film circles around a high schooler's dream to live the ultimate sick day. We meet a very sick Ferris Buller and his very concerned parents. They let him stay home from school and we soon learn that he isn't sick, he is planning to take the ultimate skip day. He pulls his girlfriend and best friend into joining into his scheme and they take the day to travel around and discover Chicago. They seem to narrowly dodge Ferris' mother and father and a very suspecting principle and yet have the time of their lives. They go to a baseball game, see a museum and even participate in a parade and still don't get caught. They make it home with minor war scars (Camron's dad's car being one) and learn a lot about their lives in one day. They live by the phrase--"Life moves by pretty fast, if you don't stop a look around once in awhile, you might miss it".

Since the first time I saw this film I've always loved it--it has everything, humor, drama and Matthew Brodrick. But when watching it for structures sake, I was surprised at how well written and composed it really was. It follows the three-act paradigm almost flawlessly and presents the characters with quite a dilemma, but still manages to be entertaining. The most interesting aspect I found was that the whole film is narrated in a diegetic form. Ferris lets us in on the world and what he is thinking simply by telling us. He steps out of the story constantly to assure the audience what is going on. Now this can be considered an easy way out to reveal exposition but in this film it adds to the story instead of taking away. Ferris' insight isn't only helpful but it is often very humorous. The audience even follows him into the shower which is usually somewhere that is kept separate. The diegetic element adds to the film as a whole and makes Ferris Buller's Day Off an enjoyable ride from beginning to end.