In addition to the Charlize Theron thriller Apex and the new comedy Roommates that have been holding steady on the Netflix Top 10 in the U.S. recently, the new slate of movies added to Netflix’s library for the month of May has started to trickle in, and there’s a great selection, spanning all kinds of genres.
For this week, I was particularly drawn to a couple of classic comedies that have arrived, and one legendary coming-of-age flick that’s a must-watch. Read on to find out.
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The Breakfast Club (1985)
John Hughes defined the teen movie, and this is one of his best
It’s great to see this John Hughes masterpiece land on Netflix, because it had been way too long since I last saw it, and it’s also about time that my teenage daughter saw it. On the surface, the basics of The Breakfast Club is this: five high schoolers—”A brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal,” spend eight hours together in detention on a Saturday, sequestered in the library at Chicago’s fictional Shermer High. They’re all from different rungs on the ladder of high school life, and they have nothing in common. Or do they?
The cast includes Anthony Michael Hall as Brian, the brain; Emilio Estevez as Andrew, the wrestling-team athlete; Ally Sheedy as the basket case, Allison; Molly Ringwald as Claire, the popular princess; and Judd Nelson as John Bender, the troubled criminal whose anger drives much of the film’s friction. Through the course of the day, the kids fight, laugh, dance, get personal, and systematically break down each other’s social labels, until they all see one another for who they are.
Quiz
8 Questions · Test Your Knowledge
Name that John Hughes movie
Trivia challenge
From detention to vacation chaos — can you identify the classic from just a clue?
ComedyTeen Films80s MoviesCharactersClassics
Begin
Five teenagers from different social cliques are stuck in Saturday detention at Shermer High School. Which John Hughes film is this?
ASixteen CandlesBWeird ScienceCThe Breakfast ClubDFerris Bueller’s Day Off
Correct! The Breakfast Club (1985) brought together a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal for one unforgettable Saturday. The film is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the 1980s.
Not quite — the answer is The Breakfast Club (1985). The five students detained at Shermer High School became icons of teen cinema, with Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Anthony Michael Hall leading the cast.
Continue
A Chicago teenager fakes illness to spend a day touring the city with his girlfriend and best friend, outsmarting his suspicious principal. Name the movie.
AWeird ScienceBFerris Bueller’s Day OffCThe Breakfast ClubDSome Kind of Wonderful
That’s right! Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) starred Matthew Broderick as the endlessly charming Ferris, who famously broke the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience throughout the film.
The correct answer is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Matthew Broderick played Ferris, whose elaborate day of hooky included a parade float singalong of ‘Twist and Shout’ that remains one of cinema’s most beloved scenes.
Continue
A girl from a working-class family has a crush on a wealthy boy, but her quirky best friend complicates everything. This 1986 Hughes film starred Molly Ringwald.
ASixteen CandlesBSome Kind of WonderfulCPretty in PinkDThe Breakfast Club
Correct! Pretty in Pink (1986) followed Andie (Molly Ringwald) as she navigated the social divide between her world and the wealthy ‘richies.’ The film was directed by Howard Deutch, though Hughes wrote and produced it.
The answer is Pretty in Pink (1986). Molly Ringwald starred as Andie Walsh, and the film famously had its ending changed after test audiences disapproved of her ending up with Duckie, played by Jon Cryer.
Continue
The Griswold family loads up the station wagon and embarks on a disastrous cross-country road trip to Walley World amusement park. Which film is this?
ANational Lampoon’s European VacationBNational Lampoon’s Christmas VacationCNational Lampoon’s VacationDPlanes, Trains and Automobiles
You got it! National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) launched the beloved Griswold family franchise, with Chevy Chase as the hopelessly optimistic Clark Griswold. The film was based on a semi-autobiographical story Hughes wrote for National Lampoon magazine.
The correct answer is National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983). This was the first of the Griswold family road trip films, and it introduced Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold — a dad whose good intentions consistently lead to spectacular disaster.
Continue
A young boy is accidentally left home alone during the Christmas holidays and must defend his house against two bumbling burglars. Name the John Hughes-written film.
AUncle BuckBHome AloneCCurly SueDShe’s Having a Baby
That’s right! Home Alone (1990) starred Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister and became one of the highest-grossing comedies of all time. Hughes wrote and produced the film, which was directed by Chris Columbus.
The answer is Home Alone (1990). Macaulay Culkin’s performance as Kevin McCallister made him one of Hollywood’s biggest child stars, and the film’s booby trap sequences became instantly iconic in pop culture.
Continue
A mismatched pair — a neat-freak advertising executive and a lovable, oversized shower-curtain-ring salesman — are forced to travel together to make it home for Thanksgiving. What’s the film?
AThe Great OutdoorsBShe’s Having a BabyCPlanes, Trains and AutomobilesDUncle Buck
Correct! Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) paired Steve Martin and John Candy in what many consider Hughes’s most emotionally resonant film. The ending, which reveals Del Griffith’s heartbreaking secret, consistently brings audiences to tears.
The answer is Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987). Steve Martin and John Candy delivered career-best performances, and the film is celebrated not just as a comedy but as a genuinely moving story about loneliness and human connection.
Continue
A teenager’s sixteenth birthday is completely forgotten by her entire family, who are consumed by her sister’s wedding. A geeky admirer and a popular senior boy complicate her day. Name the film.
APretty in PinkBSome Kind of WonderfulCThe Breakfast ClubDSixteen Candles
Right! Sixteen Candles (1984) was John Hughes’s directorial debut and starred Molly Ringwald as the forgotten birthday girl Samantha Baker. Anthony Michael Hall also appeared as the lovable Geek, beginning his frequent collaboration with Hughes.
The correct answer is Sixteen Candles (1984). It was John Hughes’s first film as a director, and it launched Molly Ringwald to stardom. The movie established many of the themes and character types that would define Hughes’s teen film era.
Continue
Two teenage boys use a home computer to accidentally create a beautiful and supernaturally powerful woman, who proceeds to transform their lives. Which Hughes film is this?
AFerris Bueller’s Day OffBWeird ScienceCSixteen CandlesDSome Kind of Wonderful
That’s right! Weird Science (1985) starred Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith as the teens, with Kelly LeBrock as the wish-fulfilling creation Lisa. The film drew clear inspiration from the classic horror tale Frankenstein, but with a comedic teen twist.
The answer is Weird Science (1985). Anthony Michael Hall starred alongside Kelly LeBrock, whose character Lisa gave the two nerdy protagonists the confidence they needed. The film later inspired a TV series that ran from 1994 to 1998.
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1985’s The Breakfast Club was Hughes’ film that followed Sixteen Candles the year before, and kicked off a run of movies—Weird Science (also 1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), and Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)—that would basically define the teen, coming-of-age teen genre. Allison’s weird, crunchy sandwich, Claire’s lipstick trick, and Bender’s freeze-frame fist-pump at the end (to the tune of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” are worth the watch alone.
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National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
The frat-versus-frat, R-rated college comedy that started it all
If there were a 23andMe test for movies, you could take the DNA from pretty much any R-rated, gross-out, college comedy across four decades—from Caddyshack, Porky’s, Revenge of the Nerds, Back to School, Tommy Boy, Old School, and even the Apatow generation of hits like Knocked Up and Superbad, and trace it back to National Lampoon’s Animal House.
It’s the loser-frat-versus-snob-frat-versus-angry-dean formula that started it all. Written by the legendary Harold Ramis, who would go on to write Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters (he also played Egon Spengler), and Groundhog Day, and directed by John Landis (The Blues Brothers, American Werewolf in London), Animal House follows the second-rate Delta Tau Chi fraternity at the fictional Faber College in 1962, who have it out for its dean, Vernon Wormer (John Vernon), who wants to shut them down. Wormer enlists the help of the elitist Omegas frat, and campus warfare ensues, culminating in the Deltas sabotaging the homecoming parade.
But it’s The Delta’s wild cast of toga-partying, moronic, and over-the-top characters that make Animal House so funny. First and foremost, it includes John Belushi, at the peak of his SNL powers, as the party animal John “Bluto” Blutarsky, as well as the smooth-talking Otter (Tim Matheson), the normal one, Boon (Peter Riegert), Pinto the pledge (Tom Hulce), Flounder (Stephen Furst), D-Day (Bruce McGill), and Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s Karen Allen as Boon’s girlfriend. It’s a classic comedy that has to be seen to be believed, and it has a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Animal House would be another great pick for my list of great movies to throw on in the background at a party.
Animal House
Release Date
July 28, 1978
Runtime
109 minutes
Director
John Landis
1
Borat
Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary is still relevant today
You’d think that things in the U.S. would have evolved since 2006, when Sacha Baron Cohen’s brilliant ambush-style mockumentary (full name) Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan first hit theaters. But here we are, and sadly, this hilarious satire of America’s dark underbelly is just as relevant today as it was back then.
Based on one of Baron Cohen’s characters from his hilarious Da Ali G Show, he broke new ground with this scathing and outrageous mockumentary that follows the fictional Borat Sagdiyev, a journalist from Kazakhstan who travels to the “U.S. and A” to film a documentary about American culture for the Kazakh Ministry of Information. Through several cringe-worthy and awkward unscripted interactions with people and groups across the country—of note is when he sings a made-up Kazakhstani national anthem to the tune of The Star-Spangled Banner to a packed audience at a rodeo, and when he brings an African American prostitute, Luenelle, to a private dinner party in the South—Borat’s plans change when he falls in love with Pamela Anderson after seeing an episode of Baywatch, and instead heads for California to make her his wife.
The groundbreaking film was a box-office hit, netting Baron Cohen a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy as well as an Oscar nod for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay. It’s cringe-comedy at its best, and its 2020 sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, was also a major hit, scoring two Oscar nominations—it can be found on Prime Video, should you want to check it out, too.
Borat
Release Date
November 3, 2006
Runtime
84 minutes
Director
Larry Charles
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