Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 4K review

Aug 02, 2023- Permalink

Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) has raised feigning illness and skipping school to an art form, fooling his parents and his fellow students. In fact, the only person who’s sure he’s faking it is his principal, Mr. Rooney (Jeffrey Jones). So when Ferris launches his most elaborate ruse yet, Rooney will do whatever it takes to catch him. Joined by his girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara), and his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck), Ferris sets out to have the best day in Chicago a teen can have. Why? Because “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Paramount has just released Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 4K and I had a chance to take a look. Written and directed by John Hughes, the film is a teen movie staple and it’s great to see it get the 4K treatment.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Though Paramount has occasionally gone crazy with digital smoothing, the grain structure here is pleasing and the video presentation retains its filmic quality. The colour palette ranges from muted tones to popping primaries and the HDR colour grading makes the red Ferrari look spectacular. The image is full of detail in the usual suspects: facial features, textiles and environments. Whites are bright and the black levels are deep.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos soundtrack which folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 as well as French, German, Italian and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. As an older comedy, the mix is quite front heavy, though some effects and ambient sounds have found their way into the surrounds and height channels. The subwoofer gets some use from the score and adds some floor to the occasional sound effects. Dialogue is clear and centred and all in all, the film sounds great.

The 4K disc also comes with a digital code, though not in Canada. Extras include a commentary by director John Hughes, and some featurettes looking at the casting, characters and other behind-the-scenes bits.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 4K is the next best thing to skipping school yourself. It’s a classic teen film with lots of laughs and it’s never looked or sounded better. Recommended.