1. On one hand, Ferris is an entitled, superprivileged predator who never admits he is wrong (and in fact only doubles down on the lie when he’s in danger of being caught) and never faces consequences for his actions.

In short, Ferris is the proto-Trump.

2. On the other hand, he really loves his friends, and I (mostly) believe him when he says he’s doing this all for Cameron. And he does offer to take the blame for wrecking the Ferrari.

3. But here’s the thing that tips the scales for me when it comes to Ferris Bueller: Everyone raves about him . . . but why?

See: the scene where his pedestrian lip-synch of “Twist and Shout” sets all of downtown Chicago into a bacchanalic frenzy. Now set that against the one line in the entire movie that Matthew Broderick delivers without a smirk: “You can’t respect someone who kisses your ass. It just doesn’t work.”

Ferris might love his friends, but everyone else—those freshmen lining up to talk to him on the payphone, the swooning fraülein on the parade float, the English faculty sending him flowers and a Get well soon note—is beneath his contempt.

In the end, this is who Ferris really is: a guy who smirks to hide his sneer.