The Class

Great programming for a young audience. It is clearly an homage to John Hughes... but it is made modern in its concerns, accounting for school shootings and the general anxiety and fear felt by kids in school today. A group of misfits are tasked with a detention theater class that requires them to bring their own experiences to the work of acting a character. The class allows each to confront the weighty issues keeping them from living their authentic lives. In a clever self-reflection, each actor in this movie is tasked with doing the exact same thing, and some honest acting is accomplished here. Nice chemistry among the cast. Really well done!

IN A NUTSHELL: This coming-of-age film is about a group of high school seniors forced to spend a Saturday at school, completing an exam they missed taking or previously failed. By the end of the day, they find their own values, betrayals, and love within themselves and their classmates.

The movie was written and directed by Nicholas Celozzi. Based on their last names, it appears that the director's daughter is one of the cast members.

The famous teen movie The Breakfast Club in 1985 was clearly the inspiration for this film. Sadly, it doesn't have the magic or charm of John Hughes movies.

THINGS I LIKED: Debbie Gibson plays an incredibly patient, compassionate high school teacher. Young moviegoers probably won't know that, in real life, she was a hugely popular singer in the 1980s. She's 52 years old and looks fantastic.

Anthony Michael Hall is a fun addition to this teen-angst movie because he was a common face in a bunch of the successful John Hughes movies of the 1980s.

Hannah Kepple is beautiful and has a beautiful singing voice. What a pleasant surprise!

Teenagers nowadays face increasingly difficult issues in a very complicated world. The film addresses today's issues for teens like coming out, abortion, family drama, friendship, preparing for college, popularity, health, drugs, and more. Most teens just want to be seen and understood while they're trying to figure out who they are.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Such annoying teenagers.

So much hair tossing.

I thought it was hilarious when one of the characters pulled a gigantic pill bottle out of her jacket, as if anyone would want to carry that around. Surely, she could have slipped a few in a baggie.

There's a lot more drama than comedy. Not all of the comedy lands.

All of the characters cry and spill their beans quite easily. Teen drama.

Some bad editing.

It's weird how the teacher kept leaving her class, abandoning her students. Maybe she wanted to give them privacy to work on their assignments; however, it was established in the beginning of the movie that these were flunking students who needed extra guidance and support.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Profanity, including F-bombs A guy brings a bong to class A guy drinks alcohol at school Teens flip the bird Violence Talk of death and suicide A teenage girl wears a bustier and super short-shorts to school

THEMES: High school Lack of motivation Drama class Abortion Alcoholism Rejection Abandonment Judging others Racism Creating safe spaces How we affect each other Be yourself Supporting one another.

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.

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.

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.