Line #70 Characters/FerrisBuellersDayOff


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	[[folder:Ferris Bueller]]
4	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/MatthewBroderick
5
6	* TheAce: He has a bizarre, ''Film/MaryPoppins''-like ability to come out on top in any situation, is beloved by almost everyone and is generally great at just about everything he does.
7	* AfraidOfDoctors: He goes through a lot of trouble to play sick and claims being in a doctor's office is worse than being in school.
8	* AllGuysWantCheerleaders: His girlfriend Sloane is one.
9	* AMFMCharacterization: He's a fan of Music/TheBeatles, quoting Music/JohnLennon and singing "Twist and Shout". He also has an Music/EchoAndTheBunnymen poster.
10	* AntiHero: He's a nice guy, but he lies to his parents so he can ditch school, and persuades Cameron to steal his dad's fancy car.
11	* AsideGlance: When he isn't directly addressing the audience, he's constantly doing this.
12	* BornLucky: He undeniably accomplishes some of his achievements through his own cleverness, but he had a ''hell'' of a lot of luck with some of them.
13	* BreakingTheFourthWall: At many points (most specifically the beginning and the end) he talks directly to the audience while setting up the stereo and moving model in his bed.
14	* BrilliantButLazy: If he put half the effort into school that he puts into ''avoiding'' school...
15	* TheCharmer: He's pretty suave and wins over almost everyone without effort.
16	* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: He's the coolest cat in Chicago and has skipped school nine times, to not mention God-only-knows how many scams off-screen.
17	* DecoyProtagonist: While the movie is named after him and is told from his narrations, the film really is about Cameron and how he deals with his depression and daddy issues.
18	* DevilInPlainSight: Even if the idea of him being a full-blown sociopath is strictly in the realm of {{fanon}}, he still is a pretty big jerk (even ''bigger'' in the original screenplay) and can convince most grown-ups he's an angel with immense ease.
19	* EveryoneHasStandards: What happens with Cameron and the Ferrari is enough to make even a jerk like Bueller feel guilty and be ready to take the heat for him. He also doesn't go out of his way to outright ''antagonize'' people until they bite first, even slipping the bathroom attendant a tip for their troubles.
20	* FourthWallObserver: He frequently addresses the audience as a sort-of {{narrator}}. The other characters never notice he's doing it.
21	* FreudianTrio: He's the id - the leader of the group and hustling mastermind.
22	* HighSchoolHustler: A classic example. It's not clear how much hustling he does in the day to day, but he's apparently well-liked by all the cliques at school and has worked out scams on his parents and school down to an artform.
23	* IconicOutfit: His ugly orange-and-black sweater vest, worn over a plain white T-shirt.
24	* ItAmusedMe: Why he does anything. He says he's doing it to [[spoiler:give Cameron a fun day.]]
25	* ItsAllAboutMe: "They could be fascist anarchists and that still wouldn't change the fact that I don't have a car."
26	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's manipulative, selfish, and keeps pressuring Cameron into doing things he doesn't want to do, among other things. However, he genuinely cares about Cameron and his girlfriend. He's surprisingly well-meaning despite how troublemaking he is, as he genuinely believes he's helping Cameron by forcing him to have fun with him on their day off and does feel bad when Cameron kicks the car over the glass, even offering to take the blame for it. And despite his manipulations, he does seem to love his parents and even his sister.
27	* KarmaHoudini: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. [[spoiler:Although he never gets caught by his parents or punished by Dean Rooney, Mrs. Bueller tells Jeanie that had she been able to close the Vermont deal, which she lost due to having to pick Jeanie up from the police station, [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty she would have used the money she earned from the commission to buy Ferris a car]].]]
28	* LovableRogue: Although time has made many people really deliberate whether or not "lovable" truly fits with him. At the very least he ''says'' he wants to give his friends a good time, and succeeds after a fashion. He even tries to take the heat for trashing the Ferrari, and considering how neurotic Cameron was up until that ''exact'' point, he had no reason to believe Cameron would turn him down.
29	* ManipulativeBastard: He's intended to be this and something of a sociopath, according to the Director's commentary.
30	* MeaningfulName: With Ferris, every day is a carnival.
31	* NiceToTheWaiter: Inverted at Chez Quis, more so after he pulls off the trick, and partially justified as the maitre'd is a bit of a FrenchJerk (well, at least, it's a French restaurant). To be fair, Ferris started by trying to be nice, but that got nowhere.
32	** Subverted with the parking lot staff. He attempts to treat them well to get special treatment for the car, and they go and do the exact opposite.
33	*** Though perhaps they were just as insulted at being slipped a mere "fin" as the maitre d' was.
34	** Played straight with the Chez Quis bathroom attendant. He slips him a nice tip, and the attendant gives him a very happy thank you.
35	* PlayingSick: The whole movie is kicked off by him pretending to be sick to get the day off and go out on the town. Neither Rooney nor Jeannie buy this, and try to catch him.
36	* PosterGalleryBedroom: We can tell he's cool (as if there was ever any doubt), because he has a Music/CabaretVoltaire poster.
37	* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Cameron's blue, being the more outgoing and daring of the two.
38	* SchoolIdol: So much that the rumor of him being terminally ill triggers a RunningGag of "Save Ferris!" graffiti being on the weirdest places all throughout Chicago.
39	* SingingInTheShower: He starts singing "Danke Schoen" in the shower, using the shower head as a mike. This of course foreshadows his performance when he hijacks a float in a parade later on that day.
40	* TheSociopath: Some viewers see him as this. Even the final film has him showing a lack of care to most (''most'' - he acknowledges he screwed up big time with the Ferrari) things that don't directly affect him, and the original draft had more scenes such as taking the money for his purchases right out of his dad's wallet.
41	* SmugSmiler: [[http://allthingsd.com/files/2012/02/ferris-bueller-s-day-off-poster.png In the movie posters]]. It seems to be one of his standard facial expressions.
42	* TakingTheHeat: He offers to do this for Cameron, who's just destroyed his father's Ferrari. Cameron refuses.
43	* TeachersUnfavoriteStudent: Replace "teacher" with "principal", but this is the relationship between Ferris and Rooney in a nutshell. Whatever justification Rooney has (Ferris ''is'' a HighSchoolHustler with nine absences) pales in comparison to the lengths Rooney is willing to go to destroy Bueller.
44	* ToxicFriendInfluence: Cameron must have the patience of a saint.
45	* TricksterMentor: Puts Cameron through the wringer, dragging him in and out of mischief, all (ostensibly) for his own good.
46	* WiseBeyondTheirYears: The thing he's trying to teach Cameron (and the audience) is "carpe diem".
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Cameron Frye]]
50	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AlanRuck
51
52	* AbusiveParents: Cameron's dad seems to care more about his precious car than him or his mother and regularly treats him badly.
53	* TheAllegedCar: His car is a piece of shit, according to Ferris.
54	* AngstComa: He goes into one after finding out how much the odometer has been run up on his father's precious car. He only snaps out of it when he almost drowns.
55	* BerserkButton: The car. He blows his gasket twice. Ferris lampshades the first incident.
56	-->'''Ferris:''' Here's where Cameron goes berserk.
57	* CharacterDevelopment: The movie is really about his development and not Ferris.
58	* ChewingTheScenery: When he realizes 100 miles have been added to the car, he lets out an epic scream. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COvsCB2DfPc Take it here for the deliciously bitten off scene]]!
59	* CheshireCatGrin: He does one of these once he decides to confront his dad.
60	* DeadpanSnarker: He has a very dry, bitter sense of humor.
61	* TheEeyore: Almost to suicidal sense.
62	* FreudianExcuse: Given how cold, uncaring and outright abusive his parents are stated to be, it's no surprise that Cameron is pretty cynical and has some serious anger issues.
63	* FreudianTrio: He's the superego - the poor fella that is dragged along and really doesn't want to be there.
64	* HeroicBSOD: He undergoes one when, after thinking that maybe things won't go so bad after all, and maybe he's just being a worry wart, he notices the "slightly" increased mileage on the odometer on his dad's car, and proceeds to go catatonic.
65	* HiddenDepths: For all his timidity and emotional hangups, he manages to fool Rooney by doing an impersonation of Sloane's father. This implies that Ferris isn't the only one who can be deceptive.
66	* IconicOutfit: His Red Wings jersey.
67	* InnocentBlueEyes: A perfect representation of being a ShrinkingViolet. Sad, sweet, and so, ''so'' beautiful that Creator/JohnHughes saw fit to give them a few close-ups on the museum scene.
68	* {{Leitmotif}}: It's kind of a subtle hint to the author's intentions when [[SupportingProtagonist the sidekick,]] not the title character, gets his own [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIqWSPUh2rY theme]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aBi5iI0xMU music.]]
69	* LonelyRichKid: Add "neglected" and "emotionally abused" to "lonely", and you're there. Ferris even describes his house as being like a museum, "very cold and very beautiful and you're not allowed to touch anything".
70	* MeaningfulAppearance:
71	** The fact that he feels the need to wear suspenders ''and'' a belt serves as a visual shorthand for how uptight and insecure he is.
72	** Him wearing a Detroit Red Wings shirt in Chicago, the home of the Blackhawks (their bitter rivals), underscores his alienation from his surroundings.
73	* OhCrap: His reaction when he sees the mileage on the car at the end of the day [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX2o_irfruM is truly something.]]
74	* ProperlyParanoid: He doesn't want to leave his dad's prized Ferrari at a garage in the care of a sleazy-looking attendant. He does so only after some persuasion by Ferris. It turns out his worries were absolutely justified as the attendant and his friend take the car on a joyride only seconds after they leave, adding dozens of miles onto the car.
75	* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Ferris' red, being the quieter and more hesitant of the two.
76	* ShrinkingViolet: All of the film's plot (at least so Ferris says) is to get his friend to stop being this.
77	* StoppedCaring: After his freakout, he decides he's going to let his Dad see that they took his precious Ferrari out for a joyride. He doubles down on that when they wreck it.
78	* SupportingProtagonist: He's a supporting character, but the film is his journey to standing up to his father. who experiences the most development.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Sloane Peterson]]
82	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/MiaSara
83
84	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: A good-natured girl who's dating the rebellious scamp Ferris Bueller.
85	* CloserToEarth: One friend is the HighSchoolHustler, the other is a hypochondriac. She is definitely the most adjusted of the three.
86	* DatingWhatDaddyHates: In the script, during the scene where Ferris cites reasons why they can't get married, he claims that her father hates his guts.
87	* DisappearedDad: The script reveals that her father left the family for a twenty-five year old bimbo.
88	* FlatCharacter: She may be the sane member of Ferris's group, but she also has less personality than them as well. Ferris is the HighSchoolHustler with a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold heart of gold]], Cameron's a hypochondriac with insecurities with his father, and Sloane is... Ferris's proposed girlfriend. Plus we don't get to learn much about her background, like we learned about Cameron's dysfunctional family.
89	* FreudianTrio: She's the ego - the OnlySaneMan.
90	* IconicOutfit: Her white fringed jacket.
91	* KarmaHoudini: Like Ferris, she faces no consequences for skipping school and going along with his lie about her grandmother dying to do so.
92	* LoveInterest: To Ferris.
93	* NiceGirl: She is generally kind and sweet-natured, showing the most concern for Cameron after his breakdown and trying as hard as she can to help him.
94	* NotSoStoic: Her defining trait is her relaxed demeanor, with all her time spent with Ferris meaning that she's used to taking his antics in stride. However, even she freaks out when she sees him on the Parade Float.
95	* OnlySaneWoman: She goes along with Ferris' scheme, but she's a lot more level-headed than her male companions.
96	* RebelliousPrincess: She clearly comes from a wealthy background and rebels along with Ferris in her own way.
97	* SatelliteLoveInterest: We know less about her than Ferris and Cameron and her role is Ferris' girlfriend.
98	* StraightMan: Ferris is a rogue, Cameron is neurotic and Sloane the calming, normal presence.
99	* TrueBlueFemininity: The kinder and gentler of the two female leads, she wears blue and white.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Edward R. Rooney]]
103	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/JeffreyJones
104
105	* AbsurdlyPowerfulSchoolJurisdiction: He scours the city looking for Ferris to punish him, despite the fact that (in this case) he does have an excused absence according to his parents, thus meaning there should be nothing Rooney can do.
106	* ArchEnemy: To Ferris. Rooney positively ''loathes'' the kid and will do anything to hurt him.
107	* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Knocks the Buellers' dog unconscious with a potted plant to try to break into the Buellers' home and check on Ferris.
108	* BigBad: The closest the film gets to one. He does his best to ruin Ferris' day off and [[NonGivingUpSchoolGuy drag him back to school]]. Though he's [[HarmlessVillain rather bad at it]], barely posing a real threat to Ferris.
109	* ButtMonkey: And how. He ends up being humiliated and ending the film with Jeannie having blackmail material on him, as well as no car. All of which brings upon himself.
110	* CoolShades: Nope; the juxtaposition of stereotypical detective music and his sleazy character, combined with cheesy flip-up aviators clearly point out these are the least-cool shades in the movie.
111	* DeanBitterman: He's a pretty strict disciplinarian and has declared Ferris his ArchEnemy because to him, the kid is the local HighSchoolHustler with nine absent days (''before'' Ferris hacked the computer). Take note that Cameron is ''also'' home sick and Rooney doesn't decide to personally visit him to make sure he's actually sick.
112	* EvilGloating: When Ferris tries to sneak in the back door but discovers the key is missing from under the mat, at which point Rooney puts his foot down and shows he has the key:
113	-->'''Rooney''': Looking for ''this''? I got ya, Ferris. I have ''dreamed'' about this, and this time, you little bastard, I've got you right where I want you. So, how would you feel about another year at my school? Under my close personal supervision.
114	* HateSink: This smug, self-righteous and power-hungry egotist has abandoned his work all while committing several petty crimes along the way all in the name of catching a truant. While Ferris was playing hooky, at least he didn’t go out of his way to commit crimes (or at least "[[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals assault animals]]"-level crimes) in order to further his goals.
115	* {{Hypocrite}}: His campaign against Ferris is motivated by the fact that he is skipping school and breaking rules. Rooney himself commits multiple very serious ''criminal'' offenses including breaking and entering and animal cruelty.
116	* InspectorJavert: Say what you will about Ferris being manipulative, but dropping a flowerpot on a dog's head and breaking into a student's house is taking things ''too far''. In retrospect, even if Rooney's plan had succeeded, he wouldn't have been holding Ferris back under his "personal supervision" - he'd have been fired for breaking and entering into Ferris's house, and probably faced criminal trespass charges. (At least in any real life situation.)
117	* {{Jerkass}}: Jeannie eventually learns that keeping on hounding Ferris for the sake of a vendetta is a stupid thing. He doesn't. And he also hurts the Buellers' dog while he's at it.
118	* JerkassHasAPoint: While he does go way too far in trying to catch Ferris by breaking into his house and assaulting his dog it's still his job to enforce school regulations. Ferris has been breaking school laws and regulations by skipping school at least nine times before he hacks into the school computer to alter the records and does so by blatantly exploiting the good will of everyone around him including his parents.
119	* KnightTemplar: Since schools need the best attendance possible out of their students to get proper funding, one can argue that Rooney [[JustFollowingOrders is just doing his job]] enforcing the rules against truancy. His problem is that he takes things much too far, committing a fair few offenses himself out of what is ultimately as much about personal {{revenge}} as it is about concern for the betterment of the school.
120	* NearVillainVictory: He actually catches Ferris and gloats about it but Jeannie is disgusted by his sadism, to say nothing of how he broke into their house earlier, and bails him out, leaving Rooney at the mercy of their dog.
121	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Ironically, his obsession with catching Ferris in the act is what allows Ferris to get away with playing hooky. Had Rooney just hung back at the office and did his normal job, Jeanie would have gladly ratted out Ferris to everyone once she discovered his mannequin ruse, and Rooney could've busted him fair and square.
122	* NonGivingUpSchoolGuy: It's a bit of a DeconstructedTrope though, since his single-minded mission to bring back Ferris led him to commit things like breaking and entering.
123	* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: It becomes clear that Rooney's desire to catch Ferris has less to do with enforcing rules or even the well-being of other students than to avenge damage to his ego and personal hatred of Ferris taken to an unhealthy extreme.
124	* OhCrap: When Jeannie reveals that she knows he broke in to their house earlier and when he thinks he's been mouthing off to Sloane's father (actually Cameron posing as him).
125	* SadistTeacher: Technically he's a dean, but still hits the same notes because of his bitterness and spiteful nature and he even gloats about holding Ferris back and planning to make his life hell when he catches him.
126	* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: As devoted as he is to enforcing the rules, he has little interest in actually following them; not only does he abandon his post in the middle of the day to track down a kid who actually has an excused absence from his parents, but he trespasses on the Bueller family's property, breaks into their house and knocks out their dog just to get his hands on Ferris.
127	* SelfInflictedHell: His fate. That bus becomes a symbolic hell for him.
128	* ShadowArchetype: He's serves as this role to Jeannie Bueller. They both despise Ferris to a T, and try to expose him for who he really is and send him back to school. So what's Mr. Rooney's issue? Simple: Rooney goes the extra mile in trying to bring Ferris to justice. This includes personally ditching his responsibility, sneaking up on people, flat-out stalking the boy, breaking into the house, etc. all to try to catch one student. Jeannie may hate her brother, but even she knows when not to cross certain lines. When she sees Rooney at the end of the movie, bruised and broken after a day spent hunting her brother, she glimpses her own future. She realizes that pursuing Ferris and being a bitter teenage tattletale — a kind of junior Rooney — only leads to ruin.
129	* SmallNameBigEgo: He takes one student being a chronic class-dodger with all the seriousness of some kind of grand criminal mastermind (although Bueller pulls off some ''very'' elaborate cons, in Rooney's defense).
130	* WellIntentionedExtremist: The undeniable facts are that Ferris Bueller is a HighSchoolHustler with nine absences and who has hacked his high school's computer to tamper with his records. If Rooney was (a whole damned lot) less of a jerk, maybe karma would treat him differently.
131	* WickedPretentious: When trying to console Sloane after her grandmother's "death" Rooney launches into a bizarre, rambling mix of quoting the Book of Common Prayer and a strange platitude about life. He's clearly making everything up on the spot and Sloane visibly couldn't care less.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Jeanie Bueller]]
135	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/JenniferGrey
136
137	* ActionGirl: Her reaction to facing a possible burglar/rapist (actually Rooney, who just broke into the house to catch Ferris) in her kitchen? Kick him three times in the mouth and run all the way upstairs before he has even hit the ground.
138	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: She hooks up with the handsome drug addict at the police station.
139	* ButtMonkey: She ends up spending the whole afternoon on a police precinct courtesy of TheLopsidedArmOfTheLaw.
140	* CassandraTruth: She simply cannot get adults to believe her about anything, even to the point where she is arrested for making a genuine 911 call to report a home intruder. Her all round {{Jerkass}} attitude is most probably the reason for this, which is in direct contrast to her much more likable KarmaHoudini brother who gets away with ''everything''.
141	* DeadpanSnarker: Nearly everything she says is sarcasm.
142	* GreenEyedMonster: She's jealous of the fact that Ferris can do whatever he wants, and get away with it, while she ends up getting in trouble for something she didn't even do.
143	* HeelFaceTurn: When Rooney finally nails Ferris at the end, she's the one who bails him out (part of this could be because Rooney broke into the Buellers' to catch Ferris and met her in the kitchen).
144	* KickChick: When she finds Rooney in her kitchen, she kicks him in the face several times.
145	* {{Jerkass}}: Abrasive, temperamental, rude and humorless. She becomes a JerkWithAHeartOfGold by the end.
146	* KnowWhenToFoldThem: Her day starts to go better [[spoiler:once she finally learns that doggedly pursuing her vendetta on Ferris is wrong (and not in the sense of "it's morally wrong" but rather in the sense of "why wreck ''her'' life trying to wreck ''his''?"). She even delivers karma to Rooney (who is a very visual representation of that lesson) and may even get the last laugh in the long term considering that her parents won't be able to buy Ferris a car as soon as they wanted thanks to the events of the day.]]
147	* NeverMyFault: She's got a big problem with this. Had she not been so vindictive in pursuing Ferris she wouldn't have gotten in trouble for ditching school herself and making a "phony" phone call to the police. The boy at the police station helps her realize it.
148	* TheResenter: This is her entire motivation. Her brother gets away with everything, while she CantGetAwayWithNuthin and can't even convince others of her brother's con when she unravels it.
149	* TheUnfavorite: She complains that their parents let Ferris get away with everything, while she can't.
150	* VillainyFreeVillain: She never does anything immoral - rather she counters several of ''Ferris''' immoral acts. However, being entirely motivated by spite launches her straight into antagonist territory. And she does experience a HeelFaceTurn of sorts.
151	[[/folder]]
152
153	[[folder:Tom Bueller]]
154	!!Jeanie and Ferris' father
155	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/LymanWard
156
157	* AdultsAreUseless: He is well-meaning but is completely oblivious to his son's antics to skip a day of school even when he is literally right behind him.
158	* FailedASpotCheck: Ferris' race to get home before his parents do ends with him running down the middle of the street right alongside Mr. Bueller's car, by the driver's side. Mr. Bueller doesn't notices because he is trying to grab something from the glove compartment at that exact moment, followed by not seeing Ferris moving behind the car to go through the backyards.
159	[[/folder]]
160
161	[[folder:Kate Bueller]]
162	!!Jeanie and Ferris' mother
163	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/CindyPickett
164
165	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She does love her kids but appears to be slightly rougher and irritated when it comes to leaving work to pick up Jeanie from the police office. It's justified, though.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder: Grace]]
169	->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/EdieMcClurg
170	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Despite her pleasant voice and upbeat mannerisms, she has a bit of a nasty streak, blithely calling Jeannie an asshole when she sasses her.
171	* MinnesotaNice: She has a chipper demeanor and speaks with a sweet, upper Midwestern accent.
172	* NervousWreck: When pushed into confrontation, she becomes this, being unable to handle a telephone conversation with Sloane's irate father (really Cameron pretending to be him).
173	* UndyingLoyalty: To Ed, who he also respects in return (and may be the lone character in the film he's not an absolute jerk to).
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Economics Teacher]]
177	->'''Portrayed By:''' ...anyone? anyone?...Creator/BenStein
178
179	* ApatheticTeacher: The ''poster child'' for this trope. His droning, rambling lecture leaves students zoned out or half-asleep and he makes only the faintest effort to engage the class. Even when taking attendance, he blandly keeps repeating Ferris Bueller's last name rather than just ''notice'' he's clearly not in the room.
180	* TheBore: His class subject is boring, he makes no attempt to make it interesting to his students, he talks in the most flat tone of voice Ben Stein can deliver, and he wastes time [[BrokenRecord repeating questions]] ''ad nauseum''.
181	* BrokenRecord: When he asks questions of his students, he says it as "Anyone? Anyone?" He also role-calls Bueller four times and Frye three times in his scene.
182	* NapInducingSpeak: His students are seen falling asleep while he's lecturing.

Context Characters / FerrisBuellersDayOff