Five high school kids spend a Saturday together in detention. Initially wary of each other, they begin to bond as they start to understand what they have in common.
Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy star as the strangers who become friends. It’s made for teenagers and it might seem excruciating if you are any older than that yourself, but the film works because each of the characters is fairly well drawn. Also, the dialogue and settings are like those of a play: it’s essentially composed of people talking in a room – albeit with a few “pop video” sequences.
The only real criticism is that the teacher (Paul Gleason) is a one-dimensional representation of “authority” and “adulthood”. He could have been a far more nuanced character, but – unsurprisingly, given the target audience – the film prefers to build a simplistic us-and-them opposition. Adults are not cool because they don’t care and they don’t understand. That point aside, it’s an engaging 97 minutes.
The big theme song is Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, which features prominently and which became a number one single in the USA.
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