John Hughes 5-Movie Collection
review by Bobby Blakey
The late great director John Hughes defined a generation with his takes on teen culture, family, life and laughs. Throughout his prolific career he delivered some of the most iconic comedies of all time that all hold up to this day to both new and old fans. Now Paramount is bringing home a great collection featuring five films from his filmography with She’s Having A Baby and Some Kind Of Wonderful making their Blu-ray debut. These films have been reviewed time and time again, so instead of diving deep into them all, I want to just give a brief thought on each and the bonus features to this great collection.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) follows high school student Ferris Bueller who wants a day off from school and he's developed an incredibly sophisticated plan to pull it off. He talks his friend Cameron into taking his father's prized Ferrari and with his girlfriend Sloane head into Chicago for the day. While they are taking in what the city has to offer school principal Ed Rooney is convinced that Ferris is, not for the first time, playing hooky for the day and is hell bent to catch him out. Ferris has anticipated that, much to Rooney's chagrin. This is easily my favorite John Hughes film with so many quotable lines and has been fully integrated into pop
culture. The cast are great, the story is fun and we can all relate on just needing a day off. Of all the Hughes films this is the one that I have probably watched the most times and it just never gets old.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) follows a businessman who is struggling to get home for Thanksgiving, but burdened by one travel mishap after another, as well as the company of an annoying traveling salesman. I will admit as a kid in the 80s I loved pretty much all things John Hughes like everyone else, but this movie just never connected with me. I have no idea why either because after revisiting it with this new release I loved it. This is yet another vintage outing for Hughes showcasing everything that made all of his films become such classics. Martin and Candy are at their best here playing off of each other to perfection while still offering up everything you could want from each of them. It’s rare nowadays to get actors that always deliver no matter what they are in, but both of these guys always do just that. A bad movie with these guys is still great, but this one is one of the best that either of them ever did in my opinion.
She’s Having A Baby (1988) follows Jake and Kristy Briggs who are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their parents) expect from them. Do they want babies? Their parents certainly want them to. Is married life all that there is? Things certainly aren't helped by Jake's friend Davis, who always seems to turn up just in time to put a spanner in the works. I had never seen this one, but being a Kevin Bacon fan was looking forward to it. To my surprise this one is a bit different from the other Hughes films with it focusing on adult issues and life. At first I thought it was going to lose the sensibilities and fun he usually infused in his films, but it is still front and center complete with a musical lawn mowing sequence that is hilariously fun all while still dealing with life and some heavy moments.
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) follows a young tomboy, Watts, who finds her feelings for her best friend, Keith, run deeper than just friendship when he gets a date with the most popular girl in school. Unfortunately, the girl's old boyfriend, who is from the rich section of town, is unable to let go of her, and plans to get back at Keith. This is another decent entry into Hughes teen filmography, but probably my least favorite. It’s a good movie that is fully relatable as expected but just never really struck a chord with me. The cast all have great chemistry and offers up everything you expect in this kind of film, but felt more by the numbers than other Hughes films.
Pretty In Pink (1986) follows teenager Andie who is one of the not-so-popular girls in high school. She usually hangs out with her friends Iona or Duckie. Duckie has always had a crush on her, but now she has met a new guy at school, Blane. He's one of the rich and popular guys but can the two worlds meet? I know this one was always a popular one, but I never really connected with it. After revisiting it I will say I enjoyed it a lot more now than I did when it came out. This one and Sixteen Candles always blur together to me, so there were so many moments that I kept forgetting and thinking they were the other film. This was just my own lack of being a big fan of either while still knowing them both. The film holds up fine and I get the appreciation of it and still impressed how well Hughes always captured that teen world.
As if getting these five films in one complete collection wasn’t enough of a reason to want it, the set also includes tons of bonus content with each film. Grab your copy of the John Hughes 5-Movie Collection available now from Paramount Home Entertainment.
