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The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

1985
Comedy, Drama
1h 37m
It's the weekend, and five students have weekend detention. There's a jock, a princess, a misfit, a nerd, and a lout. Not much in common, except for having to give up their day, sit in the school library, and write an essay for the principal. Being from such widely different backgrounds and having such completely different personalities, it's inevitable that some frictions and shenanigans develop. Especially when the principal leaves the room... (imdb)
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The Breakfast Club

1985
Comedy, Drama
1h 37m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 59.2% from 11167 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(11167)
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Rated 25 Nov 2016
85
86th
Last night, all four of us were at the bowling alley until about 7:30, at which time we noticed Ally Sheedy, the Goth chick from the Breakfast Club, was bowling in the lane next to us, and we asked her for her autograph, but she didn't have a pen, so we followed her out to her car, but on the way we were accosted by five Scientologists who wanted to give us all personality tests, which were administered at the Scientology Center in Denver until 10:45.
Rated 14 Jul 2015
88
75th
Despite all the feel-good sharing and bonding that happens here, anyone who's been through high school knows that on Monday morning, they ain't talking to each other again.
Rated 27 Aug 2009
80
40th
For such a simple plot, five kids in detention for a day, this movie is diverse and holds your attention. What I like about it is you can easily indentify with at least one of the five main characters and they are constantly changing even though the movie only spans about six hours.
Rated 11 Nov 2009
40
13th
Oh no, middle-class white kids have problems!
Rated 14 Aug 2007
85
88th
Classic 80's teen movie. Every teen movie that comes out these days just aches to be the "modern day Breakfast Club."
Rated 14 Aug 2007
9
98th
The most 80s of all 80s teen movies. Yet it stands the test of time as a classic, because despite being somewhat caricatured, we can all relate to these troubled, angsty teens for all their drama and insecurities. Judd Nelson is the most classic character and gets most of the best lines ("So it's sorta social! Demented and sad, but social!"), but Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, and Molly Ringwald all rock hard too.
Rated 15 Feb 2007
3
38th
This movie is so 80s. "Man, I can't wait till I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff."
Rated 14 Aug 2007
90
90th
MTV didn't give it the silver popcorn bucket for nothing, folks. A timeless classic that can be applied to the dynamics found in high school in any generation.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
67
30th
The older you get, the more you will grow to despise these kids. And at least in Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles, the nerd gets a girl in the end. Here Anthony Michael Hall faces a lifetime of frustrated masturbation.
Rated 14 Jul 2009
25
27th
"Bender continually acts up in front of the too-popular girl Claire. He tears up library books, sets his shoe on fire, pulls a knife on another boy, goes into a screaming rage, punches himself and repeatedly attacks anything near him. In case that wasn't charming enough, he repeatedly insults Claire, attempts to molest her while hiding under her table, proposes ganging up with another male student and impregnating her and eventually reduces her to tears. In other words, he's a charmer."-cracked
Rated 21 Jul 2010
85
72nd
Five archetypical teenagers, punished with detention on a saturday, sticks it to The Man by bonding across social groups, smoking dope and dancing around. John Hughes epitonic work, should be forcefed to the teens of today, enabling them to hate the movie now, and regret their resent later in life.
Rated 24 Mar 2011
40
32nd
"I can't wait till I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff" The jock see's the weird kid with make up on and then its love!!! Just able to connect so much with these people, and then they all leave the nerd to write their papers ~ feel good classic
Rated 25 Jan 2014
35
3rd
The dumb daredevil. The prude prom queen. The hipster weirdo. The science nerd. The deranged (but golden-hearted) delinquent. The asshole grown-up. The wise janitor. They're all here. Hughes pretends to peel off their facades but even more clichés flow out (and, unlike in the clumsily quoted Bowie line, I doubt they're celebrating a reunion). Maybe the film had more bite when released, but I could do without Hughes' skin-deep insights on Teenage Wasteland.
Rated 20 Aug 2023
93
75th
One of Hughes’ best movies, and likely his most realistic, honest look at teens. Some of the dialogue is very dated, and I don’t love some of the character choices toward the end, the film’s themes and story are executed really well in the grand scheme of things. I loved all of the acting and found myself relating to a handful of characters. An insightful, realistic look at parental pressure/expectations, labels, and teens. People are still people and everyone’s going through something. Great!
Rated 23 Oct 2008
98
95th
Of course I love the 80's movies, they're better then what's playing now days. Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald had good chemistry on film, even if they disliked eachother greatly off camera.
Rated 09 Apr 2009
85
87th
I read the draft script of this film and the script was much more better. Not saying that movie is bad or smth. But things that are irrational in the movie are becouse of the scenes that has not been shot or has been removed for some reason. The film is still good but it could have been great.
Rated 24 Sep 2010
79
94th
Still my favorite Hughes film. Considering at the time of this review it is 26 years old , it has become slightly dated but does not lose the relevance it originally brought. Stereotypes are thrown into Saturday detention together to learn that they are a little more similar than they originally thought. Sometimes silly, and sometimes melodramatic but not enough that it ever loses its honesty and emotion.
Rated 22 Aug 2012
5
24th
I cannot think of a movie with worse values. Everyone is creeped out by Ally Sheedy, but then she puts on make up and the jock falls in love with her. They make the nerd write all of their essays for them, and for some reason he seems to be happy to do it. I was ready to give this movie an 8/10 up until the last ten minutes, but John Hughes then ruined every character in the movie and told his audience to be superficial assholes.
Rated 28 Aug 2013
8
76th
The Breakfast Club is one the most iconic and important films of the 80's. This film is so timelessly relevant because we can all probably relate to at least one of the characters and the different stereotypes they represent. Each of the five diverse characters are all equally memorable and the chemistry between them is at times melodramatic but always believable, honest and emotional. The characters are loveable, the script and humour is great and the Simple Minds track steals the show.
Rated 01 Aug 2019
80
88th
"I can't wait till I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff." - Philip J. Fry
Rated 19 Mar 2007
91
95th
John Hughes' only film to mean more than his other simplistic teen fare. This film actually has something to say about youth, and it's one of my personal favorites.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
75
50th
This is my Breakfast Club. I use it to club people in the head.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
40
11th
Oh sure, everybody hooks up but the nerd, who has to write the paper.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
79
72nd
Hughes does a great job taking broad archetypes, a simple (almost skeletal) premise, and wringing from it wonderful performances and fresh, honest dialogue. Age (mine, not the film) has made it feel less relevant than it once was, but I still find myself entranced whenever it comes on tv.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
84
87th
John Hughes movies are a guilty pleasure. Watching a movie about a bunch of different kids in detention shouldn't be half this fun. I wish Judd Nelson was still this badass (sans fist pump).
Rated 14 Aug 2007
80
93rd
One of the best 80s teen films.
Rated 22 May 2008
62
35th
These people are so wildly different they will surely never become friends! What's that? Well I'll be damned! Oh, also it's boring.
Rated 02 Sep 2008
83
71st
It's one of those classics that almost everyone has seen, but with good reason. The style and look may be dated, but the relationships and high school personalities are just as real today as they were in the 80s. Once the awkward phase is over, the charisma and emotion drive home iconic scenes and memorable quotes. Folks often criticize John Hughes films for being schmaltzy, but they never fail to make us feel something genuine.
Rated 01 Apr 2009
77
66th
Iconic as hell and pretty entertaining to boot. The ending is somewhat uneven (the nerd does get shafted, but he only wrote a paragraph, not an essay) but the final freeze frame is awesome. The characters guarantee being relatable by being broad archetypes, and the 80's cheese only makes it more endearing.
Rated 15 Sep 2009
86
80th
Yes, it's kinda corny, but I still love it. Just a lot of fun to watch. The perfect 80s movie.
Rated 16 Oct 2010
4
32nd
Despite the simplistic theme of rebellion "I hate my parents, and they make me live through hell" (which is truthful in a lot of cases, I guess), there are some touching moments in this film, however fleeting. It's held back by plenty of obnoxious, idiosyncratic 80s teen moments. The final essay sums up its main message. Heathers is more complicated social commentary, and far better.
Rated 04 Apr 2011
70
69th
I would never think that a film like this would be to my liking - but it was, because of it's general disgust towards parental figures (who hasn't been there?). Probably the strongest American teen movie of the eighties!
Rated 27 Feb 2012
55
28th
Moral of the story, teenagers are full of shit and nerds will do all the work if the cool kids pretend they like them.
Rated 04 Apr 2014
33
25th
Oh shit did you see that chick? She put on some makeup!
Rated 28 Aug 2014
90
88th
Teen me gives this 111. Adult me can't help being put off by the way it romanticizes a-holes. While it's true that many girls are drawn to bad boys/a-sholes, Claire falling for Bender's constant barrage of cruelties is borderline inexplicable. Then again, there's truth in that too. The final circle scene is also as enlightening & bracingly honest about the high school class system and its resulting dynamics as any documentary could hope to capture. "Will we still be friends? Outlook not so good.
Rated 07 Feb 2016
15
1st
I actually feel mildly shocked that so many see this as in any way thoughtful, insightful, even vaguely 'real', indeed anything other than a bizarre parallel universe of badly written dialogue from badly drawn characters whose ways of relating to one another are not in any way like how any kid, or indeed person, has ever behaved. So much so that particular horrible points, like cleaning up the quasi-goth kid to make her attractive, or comic homophobia, seem relatively trivial in a swamp of shit.
Rated 13 Nov 2017
64
50th
Is The Breakfast Club's assertion that 5 kids in detention for 8 hours would, by the end of the day, have character altering experiences through heartfelt dialogue with each other? I think not! The ending undermines the film, but their confessions to how they ended up in detention is a great moment, as is the conversation between the janitor and teacher. The dance montage highlights how much fun the movie could have been. Team misfit all the way. ? Ally Sheedy's Allison. ?
Rated 18 Apr 2018
8
88th
Being that I first watched this film while in the high school era of my life, I found a lot of it interesting and in some cases relatable. Everyone loves this film, for good reason too as it does a have an underlying message, and the fact that the kids themselves are quite good in this film, everything sells. Their motives, qwerks, and simply being relatable are just the baseline of why this movie is still relevant to this day.
Rated 24 Dec 2006
84
71st
A masterpiece up until the very end. There is absolutely no need for both those couples to hook up at the end, it really ruins the movie for me. The entire movie is brilliant and realistic, and they go and do that fall in love shit in a matter of minutes, terrible, there is no reason for it. Also, the message of this film is that drugs bring people together.
Rated 14 Feb 2007
90
84th
fucking assholes make the weird girl over. fuck that shit.
Rated 01 Mar 2007
50
35th
Not bad.
Rated 21 Jul 2007
65
61st
Yeah it's a bit heavy-handed, but you know you watch the whole thing every time they show it on TBS.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
80
73rd
A teen comedy that hits all the right notes and is still applicable to teenagers today.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
100
97th
One of the best movies of the 80's if not ever
Rated 14 Aug 2007
87
82nd
The Breakfast Club was a defining comedy of the 80's. It's the archetype for teen drama/comedies today, and nothing has quite recreated it. Along with many other "Brat Pack" movies, The Breakfast Club was a film for the generation of teenagers in the 80's, and now it is nothing shy of a classic. Really good!
Rated 14 Aug 2007
80
68th
The quintessential teen angst film. May seem tame to younger viewers, but in its time, it was sharp, relevant and cut through a lot of crap most kids were experiencing.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
95
96th
The ultimate high school movie, if you went to high school in the 80's. It had it all: the freak, the deb, the jock, the houdlum, and the geek. Completely charecter driven, but with a message of acceptance. I'm surprised (and happy) that they haven't tried to make a sequel to this movie - heck they could all se a job these days.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
86
85th
Classic.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
83
82nd
Iconic 80's teen flick
Rated 14 Aug 2007
96
91st
A deeply affecting movie of teenage angst in a Republicanized American Distopia. Once it begins, you are captivated. You'll watch the whole thing over and consider it...oh...about a 96 out of 100. That, my friend, is a guarantee.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
4
74th
My relationship with this movie has been complicated. It was for me, as many others, an important staple of adolescence, but as my taste became more discerning, I grew out of it. Now I can accept it for what it is: an obvious, cringeworthy, and sometimes inexplicable morality play about social pretense. A little too message movie-ish. It's also immensely watchable, often very funny and quotable, and chock-full of fantastic reaction shots. Its insight is simple, sometimes disagreeable, but warm.
Rated 23 Sep 2007
85
88th
Perfect for its time (and indeed any time). The only part I thought was overdone was the sequence toward the end where they're all dancing; other than that, it was a great statement.
Rated 19 Nov 2007
79
24th
I LOVED this movie in high school. But I also loved pop-rocks and Big League Chew then too. Silly pop-psychology, and I still think it's cruel and misleading to have kept Anthony Michael Hall out of the final hook-up.
Rated 26 Jan 2008
87
63rd
Line up all the teenage movies of the 80s and have them elect a class president. The Breakfast Club wins.
Rated 08 Feb 2008
84
81st
Two weeks, Bender. A little hokey, but still good fun after many, many viewings.
Rated 11 Feb 2008
70
55th
"When you grow up... your heart dies." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Rated 31 May 2008
100
98th
Oh, come on, like anyone hates this film or needs to be told to watch it. The differences in the characters only brings them closer in their one day of detention. If, by some miraculous feat, you have not seen it - what on Earth are you waiting for?
Rated 02 Jun 2008
81
83rd
This is a teenage classic.
Rated 23 Jul 2008
39
11th
I can't wait till I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff
Rated 10 Aug 2008
70
71st
Above average teen movie?!
Rated 14 Aug 2008
82
71st
Don't you, for-get a-bout meeee! I hate my parents, my life is so terrible, boo hoo giggle giggle, ya ya yaaa...I remember being forced to watch this in high school, as if it were supposed to shine some light on humanity and social acceptance. Good movie, fun movie, VASTLY overrated, overachieved, and overplayed...but good!
Rated 15 Aug 2008
85
91st
"Don't mess with the bull young man. You'll get the horns." - Classic. Love it.
Rated 05 Feb 2009
100
99th
Though responsible for the archtypes used in nearly every film with teenagers, "The Breakfast Club" transcends these archtypes it sets for itself at the onset. Every character here has a story to tell, even the ones they don't share with each other, and you can sense that throughout. They are more than the labels they are given by each other and those around them. This is the very point the film attempts to make, but seems lost when compared to most films that followed in the same genre.
Rated 06 Apr 2009
85
86th
While it might've been made to capture the teenage zeitgeist of the 1980's it's so honest and truthful it's timelessly relevent. If John Hughes had made this film in 2012, the only difference would be that all the kids have cellphones and one of them would be gay (I'm looking at you, Anthony Micheal Hall.)
Rated 09 May 2009
10
15th
I dislike anything with that lame ginger shit. She wasn't a good actress, get over it. All of these '80 movies are overrated.
Rated 20 May 2009
0
12th
Improbably heterogeneous group of high-school students at an improbable all-day (Saturday) detention hall, improbably unsupervised. A detention hall, without all the improbabilities, would not seem to have much chance at drama. But with all the improbabilities it does not have much chance at Albee-esque group therapy, either. And in point of fact Hughes is well content for the most part to go after the cheap laugh
Rated 29 Jul 2009
80
70th
I was a late arrival on this film, but it was worth the wait. While really overindulgent and self-important at times, this is a fantastic film about high school.
Rated 31 Jul 2009
98
98th
Great movie. Eminently rewatchable. UPDATE: This is a GREAT MOVIE; perfectly balanced, well written, well acted, and has aged beautifully!!! WATCH IT NOW!!
Rated 12 Jan 2010
80
75th
John Hughes and Ally Sheedy at their very best. Sheedys dark 'basket case' Allison is just classic.
Rated 05 Feb 2010
60
35th
So they all get chummy at the end and share a bond with each other after they spent a whopping afternoon together.Fuck off! At my school the misfit and the jock would have teamed up and kicked the shit out of the nerd and taken his lunch whilst taking turns trying to screw the princess while also taunting and teasing the lout causing her to become bullemic and anorexic.... Oh, and there would have been some dirty farting also going on whilst laughing at the girls gag on the smell.
Rated 18 Feb 2010
89
95th
As someone who actually had to sit through Saturday detention, I can honestly say that it is nowhere near as fun as this movie portrays. We did have to write lame essays, though.
Rated 26 Mar 2010
60
53rd
It has that feel that you get when reading a sexual education folder, written by adults trying to be "young" with the teenies. The result is a contrived kammerspiel where all the high school stereotypes have a long and hard talk about stereotypical high school stuff, before they reach common ground and decide to change the world... One can't help noting, that nothing came of those plans - or the actors portraying the characters.
Rated 28 Mar 2010
5
54th
Enjoyable in many parts, but I hate the ending of this movie so much. It is insulting to teenagers and teenagers are dickheads.
Rated 12 Apr 2010
70
27th
Teen angst, 80's music it's all a recipe for awesomeness. When I'm feeling nostalgic this is one of the movies that I turn to.
Rated 18 Apr 2010
68
66th
Some things shown in the movie don't actually happen - like the bit where Andrew's scream shatters the glass door. I like to think that's the case with most of the ending as well.
Rated 17 Aug 2010
75
83rd
This movie is interesting in that it incorporates high school stereotypes with writing that is believable enough to make these characters seem like human beings rather than caricatures. While the movie does meander a bit on some lame scenes, there is a genuine nuance and honesty to the main cast that it's hard not to like them. I don't get the impression that it aged badly - if you changed the setting to the modern day with the same dialog and premise, nothing would change.
Rated 27 Sep 2010
73
67th
a bit overrated and definetley overdated, but i love it for what it is
Rated 23 Dec 2010
87
75th
One of the best teen movies of all time
Rated 02 Mar 2011
1
0th
Ugh, that ending. Fuck that ending straight to hell, because until then I was confident to declare The Breakfast Club a masterpiece. Now it's only great. Score is not a grade.
Rated 01 Jul 2011
4
51st
It's neither witty nor insightful and is really just another painfully lame and corny work from John Hughes.
Rated 19 Jul 2011
1
17th
eggs were dry.
Rated 21 Jul 2011
50
36th
Aww so cute, shows that everybody is really nice and makes us realize that under the superficial tags that we are given by others we are actually all the same.
Rated 07 Oct 2011
75
59th
This movie really feels like it understood how teenagers thought and talked, reproducing the life of a teenager - miraculously without condescension. It's a far cry from the teen films we get today, since they are full of corporate cynicism and exploitation.
Rated 18 Jan 2013
96
96th
The BEST teen movie I've ever seen. Simple premise: Five teens separated by social barriers, clash during a Saturday detention. You find yourself siding with one or the other character, and then something gets revealed about someone, which makes you reconsider your previous disposition toward them. Over the course of the movie, they break through the wall of social conventions and start seeing each other as allies. And, by the end, you will also feel like you just made five best new friends.
Rated 07 Apr 2013
83
97th
A film that continues to rating-climb, not because it's growing on me, more because I'm getting older and the insight writer/director John Hughes delivered with this one seems truer and wiser. Great writing and a cast that bring out their characters, that's a solid backbone to support its wandering into funny, emotional, smart, sincere and whatnot. *Preview*: #13#, liked, rewatch(3) }**{ #80s#, story.
Rated 18 May 2013
60
66th
A critical look at high school power structures and social dynamics. Honestly though, this is probably as good as this type of movie gets. Yeah, it still has flaws (everyone except the geek gets together in horribly unhealthy relationships, suburban high school problems don't REALLY matter, etc.). But it's a great exploration of character, it's moving, and most everyone can recall their teenage years and relate on some level.
Rated 29 Sep 2013
87
85th
These kids are like liberals post 2008. Blame everything on their parents like they blame everything on Bush.
Rated 05 Oct 2013
100
90th
One of the most sublime pieces of the 80s I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Wonderful.
Rated 15 Feb 2015
49
32nd
"I'm sure it meant well, but" have never been the start of any glowing review. The characters are so stereotypical that they seem to have been brought in from a c-grade slasherflick. The actors are good, but too old. And why couldn't the teacher have been a normal human being, rather than a cartoon villain? The dancesequence is the most memorable moment and the movie could have used far more of that kind of surrealism.
Rated 02 Mar 2015
90
97th
The breakdown of social cliches and high school cliques, The Breakfast Club follows five teenagers, all from various backgrounds, as they spend a Saturday together in detention. Bickering, discussion, and self-discovery ensue. It's a compelling drama, an effective comedy, and a deconstruction of various stereotypes. The Breakfast Club is one of the best high school movies of all time.
Rated 08 Apr 2016
8
81st
Discounting the disappointingly cliche ending romances, this is teen drama at its most authentic, dispensing with plot contrivances in favour of a dialogue-driven stage-play-like script-expertly shot and acted-that oscillates between vicious conflict and heartwarming bonding. Splashes of goofy humour (see oddball Allison's sandwich meat toss) and feel-good shenanigans (see the dance number, hallway run), along with surges of sentimentality (see John's parent reenactment), are tastefully added.
Rated 31 Aug 2018
60
31st
Teenagers ( well, 2 were, anyway !) doing some fun things, like making a gross sandwich, looking at girls knickers, smoking marijuana, playing dance music, hiding from 'teacher' all wrapped up in the pretense of a powerful message of "we are not what people label us as" etc etc. ( oh, the angst!). The problem with the film, written in 2 days, and filmed with a great deal of ad libbing, is that it completely loses it way when Alison Reynolds becomes someone else's "ideal" in order to get her man.
Rated 14 Sep 2018
100
95th
The Breakfast Club is John Hughes' masterpiece. The pacing is unique and all of the actors perform perfectly to their given roles. In perfect fashion, the story mixes subtlety with comedy and drama to form the perfect teen film. Not to mention the glorious 80's soundtrack.
Rated 10 Feb 2019
65
60th
Should have been called The Lunch Club. You never actually see them eating breakfast. Bad jokes aside, this is a reasonably well acted and written film, although its 'classic' status is blatantly absurd. Yes it tries harder than most popular US films to penetrate the surface of teen archetypes, but the principal is a ridiculous caricature, and Sheedy's physical transformation---and the subsequent effect it has on the group--reveals Hughes' true conformist tendencies.
Rated 09 Aug 2019
71
39th
Or "5 Angry Teens": Iconic 80s teen movie is an interesting idea that has some moments of genuinely powerful dramatic payoff, but they are offset by a rote predictability to many of the hang-ups each character suffers from (if they're *really* suffering at all!) The actors all acquit themselves well, but the occasionally arch (and repetitive) "quippy" dialogue becomes wearying after a while. An agreeable enough watch, and an interesting contrast to the concurrent "raunch" teen comedies.
Rated 16 May 2020
4
6th
I don't know why people love this movie so much. The idea is to realize that stereotypes are not always true - but they are in this case. Nothing happens until the last 20 minutes of the movie. The characters are quite flat, even though we are supposed to understand that no individual is just flat. No memorable cinematography, camera work nor acting. Mental illnesses also don't exist, according to this movie. Or well, you can cure a mental illness by wearing a nice dress. Tbh, pretty terrible.
Rated 06 Jun 2020
79
44th
it didn't really age all that well, but for its time I imagine that raising those issues that it did was a big thing.
Rated 17 Aug 2020
65
64th
Teenagers rebel and in the process find themselves. This story has been told many times and will be told many times more in cinematic form, but there is soemthing unique about Hughes' approach to such films. He successfully combines honesty with hope, although on this occasion the ending is too neat for its own good.
Rated 17 Sep 2020
50
35th
Even though the plot is pretty ridiculous, it has its moments. Funny at points, but I failed to connect with any of the characters. I'm sure that's just because it's 35 years old.
Rated 16 Nov 2021
85
68th
Really enjoyed this, tremendous chemistry of the cast and man that scene where the group are sitting in a circle and are just brutally honest with one another is just a great scene.

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