Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Bueller... Bueller... Edition (review)

Aptly named. Like Ben Stein’s deadpan homeroom roll call -- “Bueller? Bueller?” -- signifying the original slacker’s absence from school, Matthew Broderick (The Producers) is strikingly absent from this new edition of his defining movie. Oh, sure, there are a bunch of new extras that were not on the original DVD release -- behind-the-scenes footage from the period when the movie was shot, in the mid 1980s, as well as more contemporary making-of and retrospective docs about the film in which Broderick does appear to offer a twenty-years-on perspective -- but why release a new edition of this disc if it’s not going to offer commentary tracks by writer-director-producer John Hughes (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) and its star or some hint at the film’s enduring legacy? The film itself remains an Xer touchstone, an absolutely vital artifact for understanding the entire generation whose teenage years touched the 1980s, and if you don’t already own the movie, this is the version to buy. But for those who already hold the classic film in their home libraries, there’s no reason to shell out again for this package -- there’s nothing here that greatly enhances an appreciation of the film, more’s the pity.