Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a bit of an odd movie if you think about it. It’s pretty universally well-liked despite some aspects that could possibly be controversial. It’s often thought of as a family film despite the PG-13 rating. I even remember an edited version airing on Nickelodeon when I was younger.

But yeah, it’s a bit of an edgy movie. It’s a family-ish film where the main character could be considered unlikable. The whole movie is about him skipping school, breaking rules and lying to people. And in the end, he gets away with it. He gets no consequences at all.

Yet, the film works and pretty much everyone likes it. I wouldn’t personally call it a great movie. But it’s definitely very good. So what is it that makes the film work despite some things working against it? Let’s take a look.

In his Golden Globe-nominated role, Matthew Broderick immediately does a good job with establishing Ferris as cool, confident, funny and charismatic. This helps the viewer to root for the character even if you wouldn’t personally do what he’s doing.

He’s still kind of a jerk. But Broderick has such a good screen presence that you can’t help but love the guy. You also have to admire how well-thought-out and clever every aspect of his plan is.

Then there’s the way John Hughes crafts Principal Ed Rooney. When you first meet his character, you could view him simply as an antagonist, meaning someone whose role is to fight against the main character, and not necessarily a ”bad guy.” You could say he was just doing his job, and trying to punish a kid who was breaking the rules.

But as we see more and more of Rooney’s side of the story, he becomes more and more obsessed with catching Ferris. It gets personal for him. It’s not about disciplining a misbehaving teenager anymore. He despises Ferris and wants him to suffer. And no matter what a student does, I don’t think he’s supposed to be insulting and swearing at them like he does.

He even leaves his post at school and goes to the Bueller home. He tries to get in by ringing the bell but that’s unsuccessful. So he breaks in, of course committing a crime. What exactly was he planning to do to Ferris if he found him there? I’m not sure if I want to think about that.

He’s not just an antagonist anymore. Now he’s a villain. Because of this, you want to see him fail. And you want to see Ferris succeed just a little bit more. You could also argue that since he doesn’t follow the rules, it’s unfair of him to expect Ferris to follow them.

Perhaps there’s a resentment he has towards our protagonist. As Rooney’s secretary Grace points out, Ferris is beloved by everyone. He’s young and has his whole life ahead of him. He’ll probably be successful despite being a slacker. Meanwhile, Rooney is aging, not as well-liked and probably dislikes his job.

Then you have the film’s message – ”Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Ferris emphasizes this in a scene towards the end of the film, where he does his signature fourth-wall break talking directly to the audience.

This immediately follows a scene where Ferris’ best friend Frye (an excellent Alan Ruck) freaks about something happening to his dad’s car. Ferris says he wanted to give Frye a good day. Frye is always miserable. And Ferris wanted them to have some fun before they went off to different colleges.

Most of us feel this way sometimes. Life is tough and every once in a while you just want to drop everything and do whatever you want.

But here’s the thing, you don’t necessarily have to completely agree with a movie’s message in order to appreciate it. You just have to be able to see where they’re coming from. That’s what this scene does well.

So overall, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off works because of the charisma of its lead, the “hateability” of the antagonist and the relatability of the message. If you somehow haven’t seen it already, please check it out.