Movie Review: Don't You Forget About Me

Don’t You Forget About Me is a documentary film about the writer/director John Hughes and the movies that he made in the eighties and nineties. It was written, produced, and directed by a group of young filmmakers that were deeply influenced by the films of John Hughes. Initially they wanted to make a feature length movie about some film students that were going to make a documentary about John Hughes; eventually they decided that they should just make the documentary themselves.

This movie was less documentary and more self-proclaimed love letter to the legendary John Hughes.  It starts with several voice-overs of interviewees speaking about the great filmmaker, John Hughes. This set up a tone, that carries through first part of the film, that we are truly about to explore depths of Mr. Hughes’ work and uncover the truth of why he left Hollywood and where he was now. However, it did not turn out to be the case. Instead, the film seemed to wander through several points from: discussing how the films of John Hughes couldn’t get made in today’s Hollywood, to boring, to what it was like to be a teen star in the eighties where girls like Molly Ringwald and Mary Stuart Masterson rose to fame. Which is noted to be quite the opposite of the perfect face and body of teen stars on the screen today. This was reflected in the interviews with teenagers from today’s era feel that they can’t find characters they can truly relate to on the screen. At least not like the characters in Hughes’ movies.

Quickly we see the makers of the documentary, and their quest to Illinois in hopes of an interview with the elusive John Hughes, become the subject of the film. So, we end up with several scenes of the filmmakers themselves talking about how much they adore the man and his movies. Which I believe most of us can agree with, but this is better exemplified in the interviews of more established filmmakers. Like the interview with Kevin Smith where we can see, in the films that he made, just how John Hughes influenced him.

The film never seems to answer the question proposed in the beginning. Why did John Hughes leave Hollywood and stop making movies? Was it because he was fed up with Hollywood machine and wanted to have freedom to make films the way he wanted? Could be likely.  Sadly, most of us might never know. On August 6^th 2009, John Hughes died from a heart attack. He had been, and will be, missed.

Don’t You Forget About Me barely scratched the surface on the questions we all have about the why John Hughes stopped making movies. However, it was a great look back at the films that have inspired generation after generation. For that alone it was worth the watch. And, there were some fascinating interviews with several actors and filmmakers that either worked with Mr. Hughes or were deeply inspired and influenced by the man who brought to the screen such classics as: Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. 


By Les Brown