There are some movies that, while they are very much a product of their time, they've become absolutely timeless. Ferris Beuller's Day Off is one of those quintessential "'80s movies" and yet, even if you've somehow never seen it, there are elements of that have become pop culture institutions. You know the references, even if you don't know exactly what's being referenced. We've seen Matthew Broderick, use his past as Ferris Beuller as fodder for advertising, and now Alan Ruck is doing the same, in a hilarious new ad.
Alan Ruck played Cameron in Ferris Beuller's Day Off, the long-suffering best friend of the title character. And it seems that in the new ad for LiftMaster garage door opener, he's actually playing Cameron again, as he knows already what these kids are up to. Wait for it, it all makes sense.
The commercial starts out as a pretty simple play on Ferris Beuller's Day Off, with a couple of teens planning to take dad's hot rod out for a spin. The dialogue is virtually identical, though they apparently had to go with a different model of sports car. Everything takes a turn when we learn that the ad is for the garage door opener. And this one has a camera and smartphone control, so Alan Ruck can keep the kids from taking his car. It's sort of bizarre that of all things this commercial is selling a garage door opener, but I won't pretend like it didn't work. If I was in the market, I'd certainly remember this one.
Based on the dialogue "been there, done that." Ruck could actually be technically playing Cameron here talking about the stuff he remembers getting up to as a teen, or he's just himself making reference to the movie. I prefer the former interpretation, as it means Cameron has done pretty well for himself. He's got a nice office anyway.
As a huge fan of Ferris Beuller's Day Off, I absolutely love this. It reminds me of my own trip to Ferris' stomping grounds of Chicago a few years ago when I was able to literally stand in Ferris Beuller's footsteps as part of the city's 30th Anniversary celebration for the hit movie.
Of course, that celebration was nearly five years ago. Ferris Beuller's Day Off is now nearly 35 years old and advertisers know they can still get some mileage out of Yello's "Oh, Yeah." This ad wouldn't even need to directly reference the movie. With that song attached everybody would be thinking of Ferris Beuller anyway.
The other way you can tell this movie is iconic is that nobody has made any inroads into remaking it. There's no need, and it seems even Hollywood knows that.
