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2010 Oscar Flashback: The Totally Awesome Losers of John Hughes

John Hughes' lovable and triumphant losers get their due as we celebrate the Totally Awesome Losers of John Hughes.

By Jordan Hoffman March 8, 2010
  

The films of John Hughes say different things to different people. Indeed, his magnum opus, The Breakfast Club, acts almost as a Durban Conference of American middle class youth cultures. Those mourning his loss the greatest, however, are the unpopular, unaccepted and misunderstood for whom le cinema du Hughes acted as an oasis of triumph in an adolescence of anxiety. The 2010 Oscars saw fit to recognize Hughes for his achievements with a moving eulogy delivered by a cadre of former Brat Packers, whom we recognize here. 

Uncle Buck
Uncle Buck

Uncle Buck

Uncle Buck lives in a dingy apartment where he smokes and drinks his misery away in the company of his own filth. He bets on the ponies and drives a shi*ty Grand Marquis. Uncle Buck is a Hughesian Loser who wasn't redeemed during puberty. No, Buck is what happens when the geek doesn't outwit the principal, conquers the bullies or get to third base with Molly Ringwald.

During the course of his eponymous movie, Uncle Buck finds redemption. Buck is asked to baby-sit his nieces and nephew and by being responsible for three kids, he's forced to take responsibility for himself. Then he makes a giant pancake and flips it using a shovel as a spatula.

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