Don't You Forget About Me (I) (2009 Video) User Reviews

Proof that his legacy will live on

[Mr-Fusion · 6/10 · 22 March 2011]

'Don't You Forget About Me' details the story of four Canadian filmmakers on the road to Illinois for one hopeful interview with John Hughes, a man who has shied from the spotlight since 1999. The film is mostly a collection of interviews with the people he worked with (plenty of familiar Brat Pack faces) and the various directors he inspired (from Jason Reitman to Kevin Smith and so on). This is obviously a documentary for Hughes fans, as there's plenty of adulation.

The strength of 'Don't You Forget About Me' is the interviews that showcase just how influential John Hughes was (and still is). One interviewee in particular mentions that with the slamming Hughes took from the critics of the '80s, his work is due for a critical reassessment. And, in effect, this documentary is that reassessment.

The film's overall weakness is the screen time devoted to the journey of the four filmmakers, themselves. Much time is spent repeating the words of the people they've interviewed, and the rest is spent bickering on how best to approach Hughes at his home. It does lend a sad ending to the film that Hughes died suddenly before its release. But one tends to wish they'd just stuck with interview footage as opposed to the editorialized "on the road" material.

6/10

Well, the interviews were good...

[GethinVanH · 6/10 · 9 September 2010]

Finally a documentary about the life of John Hughes. The unfortunate part is that it's made by amateur Canadian (sadly) filmmakers. The interviews with the stars of Hughes' films are the best part of this documentary. The let down is that while Judd Nelson and other stars are present, there are many stars who aren't. Where was Matthew Broderick? The filmmakers also go on an adventure to go to Hughes' home and subsequently interview him. I'll save you the effort.They don't interview Hughes because they're silly amateurs who wrote up their interview questions half an hour earlier in a coffee shop. They also get Hughes' home address from his pizza delivery man.

It's worth watching for the interviews with the cast of Breakfast Club (sans Molly Ringwald, Estevez, Michael Hall), Weird Science (sans Michael Hall), Ferris Bueller (sans Matthew Broderick,Jeffrey Jones (Rooney)). You get the idea. They also interview filmmaker inspired by Hughes like Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) and Kevin Smith (Clerks). The celebs don't need much prodding so it's the best part of the documentary.

I still hope someone makes a halfway decent documentary about the life of John Hughes. Hopefully it won't be deluded fan-boys who treat Hughes like he's Jesus Christ or John Lennon (okay, Hughes really is the Gen X Lennon). Hughes is dead but his legacy lives on. The man simply wanted privacy and we'll probably never know how many weirdos showed up at his door telling him how important he is. It's the J.D. Salinger effect.

John Hughes may never be forgotten, but this film certainly will be.

[kixbooty · 6/10 · 26 August 2010]

John Hughes is a personal hero of mine, so I was desperate to see this film, and I have to say I wasn't disappointed, mainly because the contributions from his movie stars, from Ally Sheedy to Alan Ruck, were respectful, sincere and full of adoration. All of them wondering what happened to a man who they considered a dear friend.

I had to think though, if these actors and producers were such good friends of Hughes, wouldn't he have wanted to stay in touch? Wouldn't he have missed their company as much as they claim to miss his?

One aspect of this film that I found utterly pointless was the group of wannabe film-makers, documenting their attempts to talk to the man himself. It was kind of like a secondary unneeded documentary mcguffin. It did give a glimpse in to their passion for this project though, but I found their street walking interviews with kids who obviously have no idea what they're talking about to be tacky and last-minute.

This movie being made while Hughes was still alive, provided a sense of longing optimism for the return of Hughes, as the actors that have given interviews beg him to come back, which leaves you with a depressing taste in your mouth at the end of the film as you realise he's gone and his genius has gone with him.

Notably absent was a contribution from Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald and Macaulay Culkin, which disappointed me considering I cried like a baby at their Oscars tribute.

I give this film a 6/20 for effort, because despite its shortcomings, it's clearly a labour of love and who can blame them for that?

Oh, and I still think Judd Nelson is a self righteous, conceited showpony.

Good idea

[delo-79380 · 12 March 2022]

The young girl is the best of the group. The dude on the crutches adds no value to what they are trying to accomplish and they should have left him behind.

I blame John Hughes for not setting the dogs on them

[Karl Self · 7/10 · 30 November 2013]

The fact that Roger Ebert called John Hughes the "philosopher of adolescence" obscures the fact that he was to a larger degree a commercially highly successful writer, producer and also director of mainstream movies in general. Not all of them were great -- I think that Weird Science, for example, is crap (great title though). The documentary works great when we see all those familiar faces from his best movies such as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" thirty years later talking about their joyful memories from when they were young and stars. Then there is a lot of eulogizing from teenagers who say that modern movies don't know what teenagers are about, but teenagers probably always would say that.

To give the documentary a framework, the contributors to the documentary then set off to visit John Hughes at his home in Chicago, ostensibly to ask him to direct another teen movie. This charade is kind of annoying because it changes the focus of the documentary from Hughes to the film team, which we don't really care for all that much. Hughes of course doesn't come out to meet the camera crew, and later returns their letter without any further reply or comment. A short while after, he dies of a heart attack in New York City.

The movies has its ups (the interviews with the actors) and downs (the eulogizing of the "good old times of teen cinema when actors didn't divulge their private life on Facebook"), but overall it was nice to get a bit more insight into John Hughes' work.

love letter to John Hughes

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 21 November 2015]

Filmmakers Matt Austin Sadowski, Lenny Panzer, Michael Facciolo and Kari Hollend are traveling from Toronto to Illinois in search of their favorite teen movie director John Hughes. His last directing job is Curly Sue in 1991 and he hasn't done an interview since 1999. The four have interviewed many of the actors and fans of his films who lament the state of present day teen movies.

They find the door closed and Hughes would be dead soon after. This would be a great homage to the man except for the slightly-creepy stalking. There is no doubt that the movie needs to interview Hughes. Without that, the worst thing for this movie is a rejection from Hughes. That's what this is. The man has left Hollywood and it would be better to let him exist without the fan stalkers outside his home.

It's nice to see the former Hughes stars and the nice things they have to say about the man. It's obviously made by people who love his work. Jim Kerr from Simple Minds has an interesting story about the song. Also Howard Deutch's story of Hughes writing 50 pages of Ferris Beuller in one night is another nice behind-the-scene tidbit. The movie is short or else I would suggest cutting out the hunting party. I would suggest leaving it out anyways.

a review over "Don't You Forget About Me''

[christian-carrion · 6/10 · 3 April 2011]

Critics attack this movie like a dog attacks a piece of steak. But, i'm here to say that this movie was rather good. A documentary of Jon Hughes that was long over due, made by some amateurs. Amateurs. that doesn't mean the movie is going to be grade A material. But it was put together nicely, clips, pictures, interviews. so most the interviews didn't have the biggest actors, but they weren't gonna waste there time searching for interviews from actors when the movie is about JON HUGHES. It is also about a few kids trying to get an interview, thats the plot, and the movie also had a good number of actor and director interviews, who talk about Jon Hughes, his feelings, his actions, friends, family. It reaches the teen crowd to urge them to watch his movies, and compare them to these new teen movies, to see what is better. Kutos to these kids who tried to get an interview, the movie wasn't perfect, but it wasn't boring. it keeps minds interested, and hopeful.

Nothing much to offer other than clips from the films...

[witster18 · 4/10 · 23 May 2011]

I can't gloss over this review just because I love watching John Hughes movies, or clips from his movies for that matter.

"Don't You Forget About Me" is a documentary about 4 John Hughes fans that decide to hop in a van, drive to Chicago, and seek out the aloof Hughes.

The clips from the films and the interviews from the stars and filmmakers like Kevin Smith were nice, and they were heartfelt tributes to Hughes, but there are two serious problems with this documentary.

The first: Do you realize how easy it is to make a compilation of enjoyable moments from John Hughes films? I'm sure I could jump right over to youtube and find similar compilations.

The second: So,.. you wanna make a tribute to Hughes... so you take a camera TO HIS HOUSE mind you(now everyone knows where he lives/lived)... and try to get an interview(unscheduled mind you) with someone who has obviously made a serious effort to avoid the media.

I thought the whole idea was poorly thought out. They assembled a letter as well as a list of question to ask Hughes in seconds. That's the respect they had for their little documentary and for the director.

The film offered little to no background or insight into Hughes' past. Instead the film makes huge assumptions that are gathered on the fly from 4 people who did NO RESEARCH other than seek out other directors and cast members to talk to.

In the end, our 4 seekers offer nothing to this film other than the same emotions that nearly everyone has about John Hughes films. Even the kids they interviewed offered more insight.

Was it enjoyable? Well, I didn't turn it off. However, this is something that anyone could have put together, and perhaps done it with a little more respect and panache.

The problem is not so much the film as it is the idea of the film. It would have worked so much better if the whole 'searching for Hughes in the Van with a bunch of normal characters' idea would have been scrapped for an in-depth background and tribute that gave us more insight on John Hughes - after all, this was supposed to be a documentary about him.

In Search for John Hughes

[Nuclear-Atom · 8/10 · 7 November 2009]

I've always wonder what ever happened to the late John Hughes. To my mind, he was a brilliant writer. His movies captured something that other movies, recent or in the past, haven't. The question always haunted me, where is he and why isn't he doing anymore films?

This documentary takes four producers/filmmakers/friends on a road trip to the homeland of Mr. Hughes, Chicago Illinois. It acts as a tribute, a road trip documentary and an insight to the man of THE teen movies. The filmmakers takes the road with cuts of cast & crew members from past John Hughes films being interviewed. Not exactly interviewed. It's more like hearing their theories where he could be, why he left, how he wrote characters that everyone can relate to and their message to the legendary writer/director.

There's other people being interviewed as well like the producers from Napoleon Dynamite, Kevin Smith of Clerks & Dogma, producer & director of Not Another Teen Movie and Jason Reitman of Juno. And then there's today's teens and everyday kid on the street on what they think of John Hughes movies compared to today's teen films.

After seeing this documentary through the series of theories from cast members, quotes from John Hughes and clips from his movies, you get a sense why he left. The folks who produced this documentary handled it really well but I wish more interviews were done with other past cast members. Please note this documentary and its content were filmed before his unfortunate passing in mid-2009. The documentary is in its entirely, unaltered with the exception of a note of Mr. Hughes being passed away at the end.

Definitely a must see for the John Hughes fan who, like me, wondered where he was and why he suddenly disappeared.

"I miss you very much. I'm tired of talking to you in my mind, I would like to talk to you in person" ~ Judd Nelson

Great Film, Must See!

[phaota1 · 7/10 · 20 October 2010]

I absolutely love the movies of John Hughes. They are classic, timeless in the emotion, story and character aspects, beautifully written and superbly acted by the then young celebrity kids. As noted in this well-done documentary, and supported by many of the actors and people that worked in the various films (with the exception of a some cast that clearly had too high an ego to take time out for an interview), John's films have and will continue to stand the test of time for their realistic portrayal of teenage life. How any critic could have bad mouthed his movies back in the 80s is amazing to see. I'm looking at you Gene Siskel. Your ugly review of "Ferris Bueller" was uncalled for. That was and still is one of the all-time best John Hughes comedies. No matter how many times I've seen it, the movie always makes me laugh hard.

As for the documentary, these Canadian kids went above and beyond to get such great interviews with various actors and people involved with the films, as well as chatting with teenagers of today on their views of John's movies and how teen films of the 90s and now just do not have the realism of teenage life and personalities that they can connect to personally. They are more fantasy, and as one kid said, "T&A". Very true. The editing in this documentary is perfect, especially finding great dialog clips from the various Hughes films that correspond to the discussion segment. You will definitely laugh a lot. My only complaint is the ending. Not for the filmmakers and their job, but at John Hughes himself. I'm not going to saying what happens, but it really made me mad. And now that John is gone, it bugs me more.

If you love the films of John Hughes, you owe it to yourself to watch this documentary. It is a wonderful look back at his great films and how they continue to touch peoples lives today, especially teenagers.

A documentary every fan of John Hughes wanted to see made, created by a group of filmmakers no one wanted to see make it.

[rbranch · 3/10 · 22 January 2010]

"Don't You Forget About Me" A documentary every fan of John Hughes wanted to see made by a group of filmmakers no one wanted to see make it. Sadly the filmmakers involved in the creation of this project possess non of the talent the subject of the film himself embodied. Excellent moments with cast members of Mr. Hughes films and moments with the filmmakers of the documentary you cannot fast forward through quickly enough. John, I promise you I will never forget about you or the joy, tears, laughter and unforgettable lines you left behind. You will always be one of a kind. To the creators of this documentary, I will forget about you I've pressed the submit button.

The Legacy of a Great Writer and Director showed by not much Interesting Fans

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 9/10 · 27 May 2010]

A group of filmmakers have a mission: To track down the reclusive and talented director John Hughes (an idle of the group). Their journey become "Don't You Forget About Me", an documentary about Hughes's films and their impact in the culture and in everyone's lives. The result: A great documentary with some non-great moments.

John Hughes (1950-2009) was the creator of classics like "Pretty in Pink", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "The Breakfast Club", "Weird Science" among many others teenage movies from the 1980's. In the 1990's he wrote and produced "Home Alone" series and directed one last movie "Curly Sue" (1991) and then he almost disappeared from Hollywood movie business, didn't directed anymore and wrote a few screenplays under the name of Edmond Dantes ("Drillbit Taylor" was his last).

The creators of this documentary divided it in two paths: 1) Their chase after Hughes with a behind the scenes thing showing why did they like Hughes's movie, it's influence on people and interviews with anonymous teenagers and other people; 2) Interviews with actors and directors who worked with Hughes such as Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, Ilan-Mitchell Smith (he's a teacher now), Alan Ruck and many others; critics like Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are also interviewed and Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr (who sangs Don't You Forget About Me, the theme song of "The Breakfast Club"); and fans of his work such as directors Jason Reitman and Kevin Smith.

The first segment is not interesting in some points, they're always arguing about what they're going to do if they have the chance to meet John Hughes face to face, and their conversations are not real enough, sounds like acting. The second segment is far more interesting with all the famous people talking about Hughes's influence, how he was as a person, a brilliant and talented man that talked not only with the 1980's generation but with all generations.

Some things that bothered me: This documentary only labels Hughes as a director of teenage movies. Wrong! His most funniest comedy was "Planes Trains & Automobiles" and it don't have any teenager in it. By the way: this movie isn't mentioned by any famous interviewed (Howard Deutch mentioned a behind the scenes event about it and that's it, not even a scene was showed, same thing happens with "Curly Sue") and not even for his die-hard fans directors of this documentary. "Planes Trains & Automobiles" is incredibly funny, you can watch it over and over and die laughing because it's all that funny, and yet you might cry at the end because of its powerful emotion. It's my favorite from Hughes. All the time people were saying "Ferris Bueller Day-Off" was their favorite and this statement was actually annoying (I won't talk about it because actually I don't like it so much as other people do).

At last but certainly not least the fact that the group won't meet Hughes. It's the same thing as trying to talk with J.D. Salinger, impossible. He walked out of movie business because he wasn't appreciated as he deserved it and Hollywood changed how teenage movies were and he didn't want it to follow in this path because he wanted to make his own films in his own way. There's a lot of criticism about today's movies are in the documentary that sounded quite strange. Teenagers criticizing Hollywood for not making more movies like "The Breakfast Club" and "trashing "American Pie" or similar? So this filmmakers managed to talk with a minority. I think that Hollywood is destroying all kinds of movies and yes the teenagers are not being portrayed like they really are but if you take a look on the moviegoers most of them it's teens, and most of them go watch the box-office hit. Contradictory!

For those who doesn't know who John Hughes was it's a invitation to know more about him. If you like his films watch it and take a different perspective on his films and his legacy. We miss you, John! Films are never going to be same without you!

60% unwatchable garbage

[jellopuke · 1/10 · 2 August 2019]

All the interviews with the old casts/crews/other producers of movies/etc were fine even though most of them were framed terribly, lit worse, and tended to repeat content. But EVERYTHING with the people making the movie was terrible, self-righteous, pompous, trash that nearly made my brain melt. They rambled on and on, filmed themselves pontificating nothing of import, then have the audacity to show up at the man's house with a camera and expect to meet him? Then, when refused they wrote a letter on torn out looseleaf and expected something to come of it? How delusional can you get? Not only were they terrible at doing something as simple as framing an interview, but they put clips from movies in the wrong aspect ratios, had teenagers endlessly say how much the older movies were better than the newer ones (we get the point, don't show this 100 times), but they felt that they were important enough to put on film in such large quantities that it made me not want to watch John Hughes movies anymore! Ugh, stay FAR away from this, just watch the old movies and be glad that the people who made this one haven't had a chance to do anything else.

Mixed Review

[deicide_999 · 3/10 · 10 April 2012]

Im not dragging this out any longer than need be, so I will get to the point. The film sounded really interesting and like a fun watch, and delivered partially on my expectations. I am grateful that Netflix had the movie available, and like most of the content on there, it was sub par. I cannot believe how terrible the 'film crew' was in their lack of preparation, even though they continuously state the project was 2.5 years in the making. By the time the prospective 'meeting' with John Hughes came to be, I knew I had to write a review just to get the frustration out of me. I felt a sense of immense embarrassment for the 'crew' and was disgusted at how poorly they portrayed themselves as professionals. One would assume after the lengthy drive to Chicago and the even longer preparation (2.5 years..) they would have had the slightest idea what questions they wanted answers to, and what other topics they would want to discuss. The 'crew' had about as much sense as a group of 12 year old girls trying to track down Bieber.

I will say that in the films defence, the editing of the stock interviews was done well, and whomever was responsible for that was the saving grace, for without them I would have given the film a 1/10.

I hope the cast of the film has moved on to careers that would suit their capacities.. whether it telemarketing or rocking the sweet headset of a drive-thru.

Interesting and worth watching

[jrrdube · 10/10 · 2 July 2011]

This is a very good documentary. The film makers were able to get interviews from plenty of actors who were in Hughes' films, as well as talking to the always funny Kevin Smith, who I assumed after watching Dogma, hated Hughes films, based on the two separate attacks that occurred.

I really liked the fact that they talked with Roeper and Ebert, and found it shocking that both were actually fans of Hughes' films.

Some of the actors that were in the film, I haven't seen in quite some time, and the ones I have, I thought it was interesting to get their take on the movies, and the parts they played in them.

It was also interesting to see the high schoolers of today identifying with the movies. In the High School Musical, or Hannah Montana, or Twilight age, I found it eye opening that the youth of today still find movies, of a generation ago, still talk to them. We all identified with the characters growing up, or at least as we got older, and now our kids are doing the same. For those of us who didn't understand our parent's movies, or didn't want to, I found that interesting.

Spoiler alert! The only thing that I thought sucked about the movie was Hughes ignoring the request. I always liked Hughes movies, most of them, and I've seen, no offence intended, bigger personalities give their fans the time of day, let alone legitimate film makers. This just could be attributed to the stalkers of today, and he may have had that fear, unfortunately we will never know. However, to take the time to return the DVD, and the note via FED EX, with no note or anything was actually a middle finger, and will leave me with that image next time I consider watching one of his movies, which will be in a very long time, if at all.

Horrendous. Truly, and thoroughly

[DelBongo · 1/10 · 4 October 2010]

This film left me genuinely torn, but only with regards to how vicious and spiteful this review was going to be. I've decided to allow the review to precisely reflect the way that the film in question made me feel.

For the record, I do fully understand that the filmmakers - having made the unforgivable idiot's error of beginning a documentary without their centrepiece in place - must have felt that they had to do something with the footage that they'd shot. The problem is that all of their footage, without one single exception, is entirely bereft of pop cultural worth.

The interviews - which make up for a depressingly slim amount of the total running time - are about as deep and interesting as a puddle of day-old dog urine. It goes without saying that the likes of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Matthew Broderick don't appear here, but the actors who do take part aren't actually asked anything of note. You can envisage this crew of filmmakers putting exactly the same questions to Judd Nelson and Andrew McCarthy that they do to a band of young schoolchildren at one point. "So like, why is John Hughes so great?"

Nobody has the answer. The inarticulate buffoons behind the camera try to answer it themselves during one utterly toe-curling sequence (that takes place in a twilight-tinged field) but if that moment of abject horror isn't to your taste, then believe me - every single other interview is quite indescribably boring. John Hughes was a genius. John Hughes meant the world to everyone. John Hughes spoke to teenagers like nobody ever has, before or since. Yes, we get the picture. So what else you got?

What else they got is footage of themselves; and an apparently endless supply of it at that. What makes this fact so thoroughly appalling is that the film stops being about John Hughes after about five minutes. This isn't a film about him - it's a film about them. And these people think they're funny. They think they're cute. They think they're wise. Not only are they none of the above, they also collectively believed that eighty-odd minutes of their inane potterings would somehow make for acceptable entertainment for the paying public. I only have three words for them: how dare you.

As a fan of John Hughes, the fact that a documentary pertaining to be "about" the great man features such a disarming lack of insight and investigation is absolutely shocking. This is nothing more than a poorly-shot travelogue about a group of deeply uninteresting people making trite and stupid observations for the entirety of the running time.

I paid to have the DVD imported, so I'm sure that the ten-watt bulbs who were responsible for this production are probably laughing their heads off right now. But then again, I literally just made my money back via a re-sale on eBay. In a very, very small way, I just bucked a stupid system to make it work for me. John Hughes would have been proud.

Fantastic

[mhs101 · 10/10 · 30 April 2011]

I was never a John Hughes fan having grown up in the 70s and not the 80s. But the heartfelt adoration of these film makers for John Hughes was endearing. I kept rooting for them and hoping beyond hope that they would get their interview with Mr. Hughes. After the movie ended; what happened to John Hughes (in the very end) made the movie into a tragedy. Very well done. Hope these film makers do another one, and hope the ending is not as sad. Standing on its own, the film is a great ending to the body of work left created by John Hughes. It is an epitaph if you will to a film maker adored by many and missed by all. Excellent job.

The title should've been... We're Really Stalkers!

[Balthazar_Bresson · 1/10 · 25 December 2013]

A documentary about a bunch of wannabe-documentary filmmakers who got amazing subjects to interview yet got nothing from them because they focused more on their own presence on screen as if anyone is or would be interested in a pack of perfect nobodies in the filmmaking industry. They behaved more like stalkers than doc makers. A pathetic lot they proved to be and a true disservice to John Hughes' work and persona. More than half the film you see these newbies pulling ideas out of their asses which evidently showed how unprepared they were to confront this task. They may have been fans but that didn't make then researchers on the subject. Also, if you read the threads section, you'll notice some of them, as little brats, have jumped in to defend their crock of feces in the most immature and unprofessional way. Skip this one... you'll be glad you did.