Five stereotypical teenagers spend a Saturday together in detention and learn, in the end, that they're not so different after all.
That's the movie I saw when I was 15. Today, I don't see a movie about them. Now it's a story about Vernon, a middle-aged assistant principal spending his Saturday babysitting a bunch of punks. It’s Vernon's movie. And the scene where Vernon confronts the brattiest of the pack, fire alarm-pulling John Bender, is his scene. He's the friggin' hero.
After the kids remove a screw from the library door, so it won't stay open under Vernon's watchful eye, Vernon storms into the room to restore order but finds himself in a game of Whac-A-Mole. He's losing control to teenagers. Until…he shows them who's the boss.
You mess with the bull, you get the horns
The rebellious Bender goes head-to-head with Vernon in this scene as he strikes back with more detention...
Vernon: Are you through?
John: No.
Vernon: I'm doing society a favor.
John: So.
Vernon: That's another one right there. I've got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don't watch your step. You want another one?
John: ...Yes.
Vernon: You got it! You got another one right there. That's another one, pal.
That sumbitch had it coming. By the time Vernon exits this scene, he's taken control back.
The moral of the kids' story: don't judge a book by its cover. The moral of Vernon's story, the real movie, is that we rarely become the people we thought we would be and maybe that's okay.
At the beginning of detention Vernon assigns each of the kids a thousand-word essay: who do you think you are? It's a question that, in thirty years, they may still be unable to answer. But there's a certain wisdom in asking it.
Watch Vernon's 12-minute movie at 00:06, 00:17, 00:48 and 1:05.