The Class

If you love Breakfast Club, and think that this might be a fun little re-telling.... Forget it. This thing is terrible. There are no redeeming qualities.

MAH - "phones it in." DG - hmmmm not so much Rest of the Class - bad high school drama club acting.

Save your money. This movie will not become a cult classic. Even as a bad movie cult classic like Plan 9...

If I was to quantify this movie, it is an attempt to steal money from fans of the Breakfast Club. So, with that said, I did see that The Breakfast Club is available to rent/purchase... absolutely do that instead. You can will thank yourself later.

First thing you should take off of your mind before watching this movie is The Breakfast Club. I know, it's kind of inevitable, but the similarities are there because The Class is a homage of the classic from 1985, but it is it's own film. I really loved the diversity of the characters and how each one approaches different issues that are so relatable. I had a few issues with some lines and cuts on the movie though. The performances of Lyric Ross and Charlie Gillespie deserves to be praised, specially towards the end. I wasn't expecting to get emotional, but I certainly did! The music and photography are great on the movie too, and I love all the details that the production crew created for the school, it gave so much life to the environment. So, regardless of some poor choices made on the writing/editing, it's totally worth the watch.

I read the reviews on line and decided to manage my expectations. I was pleasantly surprise as I watched the story unfold. I definitely got the sense of the 80s Breakfast Club. The filmmakers touched based on many different relevant topics. I alway love watching Anthony Michael Hall. By the time it was over I wanted to see some more. I would give it an 8 out of 10.

It is not often that you get something that give you thought provoking dialogue. The actors were great and would love to see more of them. Possibly a sequel could be in the works. Anyways if you have time it is worth it. I may go back and watch for a second time.

Bear with me.

We have Lyric Ross who has demonstrated wide emotional depth and tremendous talent on This Is Us playing an edgy teen. There is Debbie Gibson coming in as a teacher who most know as a pop star from the 80s but she is also a Broadway caliber actress. In a gimmick casting we have the vice-principal played by Anthony Michael Hall, a darling of John Hughes films who continued his acting career for decades, as well as John Kapelos also of The Breakfast Club playing a parent to one of the teens. We have a newer talent in Charlie Gillespie who rose to fame in Daytime EMMY winning Julie and the Phantoms (as the Bender type character). We should have a hit on our hands in this "reimagined" (cough remade cough) Breakfast Club. But unlike the 1985 classic, the writing is bad. The directing is bad. The editing is bad. I blame this on the director of this film who also wrote it and cast one of his kids as one of the stars. She is no Molly Ringwald.

Fashioned as a more contemporary version tackling issues not widely discussed in The Breakfast Club, there was so much potential. Good actors and a proven premise combined with a good original song performed by Hannah Kepple of Cobra Kai fame fell short because the cast can only work with what is in the script.

There were some good dramatic moments which could have been played out in more depth but instead were cut between goofy unneeded antics or trying to split the cast up into too many locations. It was disjointed and it always felt like I was coming into the middle of a conversation. Had the stories been allowed to be fully fleshed out, or perhaps the characters been left together and forced to be in each other's space like in The Breakfast Club some magic could have happened. I rated it higher than it probably deserves because the seeds are there and we all have different taste so others will probably love it. The best scene of the movie, in my opinion, is almost at the end so stick around for it.

So a bunch of 20-somethings once again play teenagers and they decide to rip off the Breakfast Club. Sure what could go wrong with such an inspired genesis.

This thing is execrable.

Cringeworthy acting - paper thin characters - two adult leads phoning it in. Oh wait a minute they are actually all adults just about three-quarters of them are playing kids.

And the sad part is - someone with a modest amount of sensitivity and talent could probably update the Breakfast Club - just not this ensemble

I have no idea who wrote it - green lit then decided to actually make it - but let me save you a wasted couple of hours - SKIP IT.