MovieChat Forums > Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) Discussion > Jeanie makes no sense (Ferris couldn't g...

Jeanie makes no sense (Ferris couldn't get away)


So, Jeanie almost drives right INTO Ferris, while having her mom in the car.

What does she do? Squint her eyes and hit the gas, INSTEAD of the obvious, "Look, mom, it's Ferris!".

Which is more realistiC? Which would ACTUALLY happen in that situation? She WANTS Ferris to get caught, and yet rather 'races him home' instead of a simple "Look, mom!".

Also, why doesn't 'mom' see Ferris? Usually when you're sitting right next to the driver, you see the whole road pretty clearly, if the car is about to hit something and the driver has to break really hard to avoid hitting it, the passenger is 100% aware of what it was and what was going on - at least as much as the driver.

My point is, the mom should've seen Ferris at least as much and as well as Jeanie. Why wouldn't she? She would be interested in her daughter's driving skills and development, she would be judging and evaluating her daughter's driving, so she can help her and make her a safer driver - an experienced adult's perspective is always useful for a relative beginner (which we have to assume Jeanie is when it comes to driving).

Why would she NOT be looking where she's going and so on?

In any case, ALL she had to do is say "Look!", just one word, one utterance - just open the car door if you have to and shout "FERRIS!!" or whatever gets the mom's attention. There's NO WAY Ferris could realistically run 'out of sight' faster than the mom can look up.

Jeanie's behaviour and decisions make NO SENSE whatsoever, especially singer Ferris LINGERS around a long time for the whole 'squinting' stuff, which also makes no sense.

It's of course preposterous that the dad never sees Ferris, although he's like 1 m from him SEVERAL TIMES during the day, and can see him 'jogging' next to his car directly, but that's a topic for another post about things that make no sense in this movie.

In any case, Jeanie makes no sense in this scene, either.

reply

if the car is about to hit something and the driver has to break really hard to avoid hitting it,

Brake, not break.

reply

Come on. Mistakes like that happen. Don't be a grammar nazi on a site like this. This isn't creative writing 101.

reply

I think the mom is distracted looking down at papers when Jeanie hits the brakes? Either way, I am pretty sure her glasses fly off too.

But I am more perplexed at how Jeannie just in a moment's notice decides to help Ferris when he is out on the porch with Rooney. They don't even give her a second's worth of reflection on screen before she changes her mind.

reply

It’s possible that she worked out that Rooney was the intruder all along, and decided he was the greater villain. She doesn’t mind helping Ferris if it means punishing Roon.

reply

My theory: this movie sucks.

reply

That's a good theory and one I agree with. I never liked this movie. Everyone used to make a huge deal out of it. I thought it sucked. I guess there are some funny parts here and there, but the movie itself sucks.

reply

I thought it sucked when I walked in on my sister watching it and watched the rest of it with her decades ago. I gave it another chance last year to see if my perspective had changed and maybe I would appreciate it a little more.

Nope. Still sucks.

reply

That's funny. I have similar memories. My older sister (who was in high school when this came out) went to the movies with a group of her friends to see this. She came home and told us how great it was and how everyone in the audience was cheering all throughout the film. Her description made me want to see the film. However, I was really young, so I didn't see it until it made it to cable television (most definitely HBO) a few years later. When I finally did see it, I thought that it was a pile of garbage.

The jokes were dumb, the premise was dumb, and I wanted to beat up Ferris. I was supposed to believe that that complete dork was the coolest guy in school and was also dating a high school hottie who was a solid 10?! Then I was supposed to believe that they destroyed a million-dollar car and that everything was going to be just fine for Cameron?! And what was up with the incest joke in front of the school?! That wasn't funny. Incest is gross. What was George Lucas taking a break from writing Return of the Jedi for a day and helped out with that part of the script?! Dumb, dumb, dumb!

reply

Yep. Right there with you. My older sister loved the movie and thought it was hilarious too. I just couldn’t find anything to like in it. By the time Ferris Bueller’s sister completely changed gears with no explanation, I was done.

reply

I don't get why Jeanie's so damn angry about Ferris skipping school whilst she herself is skipping school. The fuck?

reply


Maybe Ferris does it all the time and gets away with it. Jeanie may have been caught and punished.

reply

Okay but she's still skipping school while out driving around and fuming about Ferris doing...the same exact thing.

reply

I believe this was the whole point of the Charley Sheen character.

reply