re: Why is Ferris Bueller's Day Off considered so great?

If you were there, and I was was a wannabe-rebellious teenager at the perfect time to appreciate the movie, it was like watching a star athlete at the pinnacle of his greatness.

John Hughes had already elevated the 80s teen movie and was recognized as the primary leader of the genre with Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. For 80s teens like me, expectations were high for this movie and he hit a grand slam. This was the movie we were waiting for. He had been flirting with greatness with all of his movies and this was the one where he put it all together (in my opinion). It was a true event in the teenage culture of the time, and it was also the high water mark of the genre as a whole.

After that movie, John Hughes only did one more true teen comedy and it was pretty lousy (Some Kind of Wonderful), followed by the equally lousy She's Having a Baby and the occasionally funny John Candy trilogy (The Great Outdoors; Planes, Trains & Automobiles; and Uncle Buck). And then there's Home Alone, which I choose not to talk about.

As far as it holding up nowadays, it really doesn't, but I don't think it's that bad a movie compared to other movies in the genre. Take for example another iconic movie of the time like Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Take out the handful of momentary memorable scenes and lines, and it is a truly shitty, haphazardly thrown together, no character arc kind of movie (even though I still love it). At least in the John Hughes movies, there is a coherent storyline and arc.