Chapter 9

Rooney walks Sloane outside the building to wait for her “dad” (Ferris); It’s pretty similar to the movie. There’s a brief exchange where they run into Jeanie. Some of the narration here further emphasizes that Sloane thinks Jeanie’s lame:

Some dialogue from Rooney also shows that he doesn’t like Jeanie either (thinks she’s a nuisance):

Idk I guess the writer just doesn’t like Jeanie and is making that ingrained in the writing LOL sorry girl

Ig another thing that’s a little different in this scene is Sloane’s a bit more panicked internally by the fact that Rooney is waiting for Ferris with her; since she doesn’t know Ferris’s plan here, she’s concerned they’re gonna get caught.

Kind of a contrast w the movie where she’s acting pretty chill/disinterested here. I guess it’s an idea, but it’s too brief to really be worth even mentioning imo lol

There’s some dialogue between Ferris and Cameron on their way to pick up Sloane; mostly just Cameron being a worry wart and Ferris being flippant.

I kinda like these lines from Cameron:

idk I like a melodramatic Cameron lol.  Probably meant to mimic the scene outside of Chez Quis where Cameron suggests surrendering. It’s also somewhat reminiscent of script!Cameron’s habit of mumbling repeatedly to himself, which I think helps push his neurotic characterization. Bit of a side note, but I think later in the book Cameron talks about him considering joining the marines or whatever; so I guess him having a penchant for military-style language could be a link to that.

Idk if I noticed this before but book!Ferris also calls Cameron “Cam” quite a bit. A bit different from the movie, where Ferris only calls him Cam once afaik.

A Ferris bit that I like:

Idk I like that some of Ferris’s theatrics are specifically done to entertain Sloane. :) (?)

Weird bit of narration from Sloane:

what is she 50 years old lmao?? Granted I have no idea what she mouths at Ferris when she first sees him in the movie. Maybe it’s “I love that crazy kid” lsdkfjsdlkf who knows

Unlike in the movie, Rooney is suspicious of the situation when Sloane kisses Ferris:

Personally the incest joke in the movie is not my taste so I’m fine w that tipping Rooney off here lmfao

While they’re driving away, Sloane kisses Ferris on the cheek:

:) (no commentary I just like when things have cheek kisses lol)

The gag of Cameron chanting “please don’t say we’re not gonna take the car home” is replaced by a slightly different gag; here there are a couple exchanges between Sloane and Cam that have Cam saying sth to the effect of “We’re going to take the car back home. Right Ferris?” and Ferris nodding after each insinuation (but ultimately ignoring Cam):

I feel like the pacing of the gag is more or less fine but I still like the movie scene better lol… maybe they could’ve used this sort of joke somewhere else.

Also in the first exchange between Sloane and Cameron from the movie (“Hi, Cam, you comfortable?” / “Hi, Sloane. No.”), Cameron’s line here is reduced to just “No.” (Staging of the scene is a little different too; they don’t greet each other until after he pops out of the back seat while Ferris drives away):

 This is so just a negligible thing but for me I find Cameron’s diligence in greeting her w/ “Hi, Sloane” while being grumpy to be weirdly charming lol so I’m kinda disappointed they changed that.  

Anyway, that’s the end of that chapter. :p Not really a ton to say about it personally, it's very similar to the movie.

Chapter 10

Chapter starts out from Mrs. Bueller’s perspective; we see her on her way to the bank with her clients who are like annoying or something (rich family with a delinquent metalhead teen son.) The son is being really annoying in the car and she notes that she really hates being a real estate broker at times like these. Here’s part of the scene for a taste of these additional characters:

I think these characters are in the script? Tbh I don’t really know what to do w this son character in terms of the movie’s perspective of teenagers = smart and cool, adults = clueless and lame. I feel like we’re supposed to be sympathizing with Mrs. Bueller’s dislike for him lol… I guess technically fbdo is a little nuanced (?) about the status of teenagers in that Ferris is simultaneously really cool and really annoying. but i feel like we're primarily supposed to think teenagers are cool, which this son character kind of diminishes.

Scene cuts to Ferris & company driving along (later revealed they’re driving to a bank to cash the bond Ferris took from his dad’s stash). Some lines I can comment on:

Ferris is absolutely not a good driver based on the movie driving montage so. lmfao. Also foreshadowing to crashing the Ferrari in the finale, so I guess that’s interesting.

I think this is a fun exchange of Ferris winding Cameron up for literally no reason lol… but also I think you can see here how the writing style is kind of stilted. Like here I think the “Cameron gasped” part could’ve been dropped or rephrased or sth. All the dialogue is kinda like that tho, really hand-holdy or smth... idk I could be more articulate about this but whatever.

Book!Ferris confirmed bad driver lmao… I like the inclusion of him weaving in-and-out of traffic while doing this lofty philosophizing/preaching at Cameron, good contrast between his elevated speech and his reckless actions.

There’s more philosophizing from Ferris as they drive along, this time about how Ferris thinks SAT scores, grades, and algebra are pointless. Maybe it wasn’t so cliche at the time this was published, but it’s a pretty tired and uninteresting take from Ferris that they spend too much time on lol… I do kind of like that discussion ending with this at least:

Idk the notion that Ferris could conceivably be wrong in the end kind of softens the preachiness a little.

Anyway they arrive at the bank. Little gag from Ferris that I like:

He’s so annoying LMAO goo-goo eyes at Cameron for no reason.

Weird continuation of this exchange from Sloane:

Kind of a strange consequence of this likely being written based on scripts rather than the movie is descriptions of Cameron are sometimes really random? Like idk, was alan ruck supposed to look like a shady guy (whatever that means)...?? Anyway idk what exactly Cameron’s vibe is supposed to be such that it prompts that from Sloane. I guess she’s just teasing lol

Anyway they’re at the bank. It’s described as “a pretty cool bank” with some details for why it’s cool for a bank. Idk why this description is here, it’s not like this is a crucial setting that warrants extensive description. Also kind of doesn't match the old uncool bank teller they end up interacting with... idk maybe that's the point. doesn't make much sense to me though.

They go to the bank teller, Mrs. Froehling—this is presumably the old woman that Mr. Bueller drives behind on his way home at the end of the movie. Most of the dialogue between her and Ferris is just Ferris pushing how obnoxious he can be without overdoing it or making her suspicious lol… example excerpt from this scene:

I do hc that Ferris kisses up to adults and isn’t 100% honest when he does it, but I feel like him in this extended scene is like 3% too annoying for me lmao;; anyway this goes on for a while, I’m pretty sure it’s in the script as well. There’s gags where he pretends Cameron’s name is ZZ Top and Sloane’s name is Madonna; he convinces Mrs. Froehling that he’s graduated and needs to cash in the bond for money because he and “Madonna” (Sloane) are expecting a baby; etc. Idk I have no idea how to paraphrase this scene, it’s mostly just Ferris and Sloane bantering and being obnoxious at Mrs. Froehling.

Cameron then spots Mrs. Bueller at the bank with her clients, so the scene continues with Ferris trying to rush Mrs. Froehling into cashing the bond. Again there’s like a lot of gags here that aren’t in the movie (mostly throwaway lines that are meant to be humorous) but they’re not particularly interesting to me so I’m not gonna bother putting em all here… I guess one thing I can note is that even under pressure Ferris tries to be a smartass till the bitter end, until he also has to give up:

Idk it can be fun when he’s forced to break his little song and dance. :p

Anyway the trio gets to the car without being noticed, they have a laugh about the situation, then start driving toward the city; cam’s emo about it bc they’re not returning the car to his house. The chapter ends by cutting back to Mrs. Froehling running into Mrs. Bueller and congratulating her on Ferris and “Madonna’s” baby; Mrs. Bueller is confused but ignores her because Mrs. Froehling is old and weird. (????)

Final thoughts about this chapter: I feel like I kind of like this concept in theory (Ferris trying to talk his way thru cashing the bond + almost getting spotted by his mom), but the jokes here are way too smartass-Ferris for my taste LOL;;; For me I prefer when he can talk or scheme in a way that outwits someone or sth, versus here this was more just an opportunity for him and Sloane to insult/make fun of this old lady without her realizing. I guess him lying about his friends' names in a really stupid way is kind of interesting but also kind of dumb... maybe if he came up w that under pressure I would think it's funny, rather than it being presented as if he did something smart.

Also I feel like this scene slightly goes against a characterization Ferris had earlier in the novel when he calls Sloane's mom; he makes an off-hand comment that makes it seem like he's being a smartass to Sloane's mom, but then the narration reveals after the interaction that he was actually just being earnest. I feel like accidental smartass Ferris is more interesting than deliberate smartass Ferris lol... idk I just like the notion of him having an element of earnestness to him even when he's schmoozing people.

Last I think they should've had some sort of scheme to slip by Ferris's mom rather than just rushing by her, like the two taxi gags with Ferris's dad in the movie... in the script they pretend to be mannequins which is nonsensical enough for me to think it's kinda funny:

also somehow book-ends the using-money-intended-for-college-education theme of this scene.

based on this (largely traced):