Last week we were teased with a 10-second clip of Matthew Broderick reprising his role as Ferris Bueller. The short clip was a part of a Super Bowl commercial for a mystery company, but it made some optimists believe in the possibility of a sequel. I took the opportunity to be nostalgic and lament over my failings to live up to the example set by my childhood idol.
As it turns the anonymous company turned out to be Honda, in what is probably their most ambitious commercial to date. The full two-and-a-half-minute clip was directed by Todd Phillips (“Old School,” “The Hangover”) and mimicked the plot of the John Hughes classic, but replaced principal Ed Rooney with an agent, baseball game with a horse race, Seurat’s famous painting with a stuffed walrus and the famous 250 GT Ferrari Spider California with a Honda CR-V.
Yes, one of the rarest Ferraris in existence was replaced by a Honda CR-V. It doesn’t quite add up, but then again Ferris famously never actually had a car in the film (he asked for one and got a computer), he leeched off Cameron’s “piece of shit” and “borrowed” the Ferrari. It simply seems incongruous to reprise a character who would never consider a Honda CR-V a “choice” automobile. I have nothing against the Japanese automaker, they make a fine product, but it’s not exactly in line with Ferris’ tastes.
The commercial is funny, but Broderick seems to lack a bit of the arrogance of his younger self, and appeared a little stiff. It doesn’t make the commercial any less enjoyable, however.
[Jalopnik]
January 30, 2012 at 1:36 pm, Matt Kerestesy said:
That was a let down.
February 08, 2012 at 5:16 pm, Ben Stein thinks he should have been in the new Ferris Bueller ad, and he’s totally right | Death and Taxes said:
[...] reference suits to communicate the mood aptly.So of all the references to work into a reprisal of Ferris Bueller for Honda’s Super Bowl commercial this year, you’d think a Ben Stein cameo would be [...]