Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Ferris Bueller looks right into the camera like he’s your best friend, and he’d absolutely talk you into lending him your dad’s car. Watch it as a grown-up and he’s a charming little hustler who steamrolls everybody around him. The real movie belongs to Cameron. Alan Ruck plays him as a kid so anxious he’s practically vibrating, and his long stare at a painting in the art museum is the most honest moment John Hughes ever filmed. Matthew Broderick is so likable that the movie gets away with it anyway. Jeffrey Jones turns Ed Rooney into a one-man cartoon, which is great until it isn’t. Jennifer Grey’s Jeanie, furious that her brother never gets caught, is weirdly the most relatable person in it. The parade scene is pure joy. It cost a reported $5 million and made $70.1 million domestic, plus a whole generation of fake coughs. A 7.6 because it’s endlessly fun and quietly about the friend who needed the day off more. $703 says you hear Twist and Shout this month and start conducting an invisible parade.

What works: Broderick’s charm, the fourth-wall jokes and Alan Ruck’s anxious Cameron make it endlessly rewatchable.

What doesn’t: Ferris is a pretty selfish friend, and Rooney’s slapstick gets so cartoonish it undercuts the movie’s smarter moments.

Who it’s for: Anyone who has ever stared out a classroom window on a perfect spring day.