Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: June 11, 1986

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

61	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Richard Schickel

Ferris and his adventures represent a teen's dream of glory: to have, at one's fingertips, the technical skills to sabotage the adult world's machinery of oppression and, at the tip of one's tongue, the perfect squelch for grownups' moralistic blather. [23 June 1986]

Marjorie Baumgarten

When people think fondly of John Hughes, it's movies like Ferris Bueller that they're thinking of. Read full review

Staff [Not Credited]

This is the funniest teen movie I've seen in eons. Read full review

Brad Laidman

This is John Hughes' best teen film, and it's a call to arms to everyone in the world who doesn't want to follow society's lame-ass rules at the expense of living a cool life. Read full review

Staff [Not Credited]

At its best Ferris Bueller is a free-spirited romp, a devil-may-care respite from grueling dailiness. Read full review

Roger Ebert

The film's heart is in the right place, and Ferris Bueller is slight, whimsical and sweet. Read full review

David Ansen

It's basically a mindless paean to goofing off, with interludes of dubious seriousness. [16 June 1986]

Nina Darnton

In this film [Hughes] has created a character who is every teen-ager's fantasy, but in the process he has lost some of the authenticity of his other films - leaving several slow transitions or awkward moments. Read full review

Gene Siskel

That the film doesn't live up to our anticipation of a rolicking good time is only part of its disappointment. [11 June 1986]

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

The story and pacing of this offbeat comedy wear thin after the first 20 minutes. Read full review

Dave Kehr

The overriding impression is one of utter nihilism, as reflected in a world divided into bored, crassly materialistic teenagers on one side and doltish, unfeeling adults on the other. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Paucity of invention here lays bare the total absence of plot or involving situations. Read full review

Julie Salamon

One of the least appealing movies I've seen in a while.... When a member of the audience belched loudly, that got the biggest laugh of the day. [17 June 1986, p.E26]