Famously written in a very short space of time and you can tell in a lot of places - there's not a lot of story, it's full of energy and pace, some bits probably could have done with some more work.
The central idea is brilliantly simple and effective - and by making the lead characters come from different social groups ensures differentiation. Most of the plot or at least the conflict is driven by Bender (the delinquent) with Claire (the popular girl) and Andy (jock) as the main antagonists and Brian (nerd) as a complicating factor and Alison (the basket case) only contributing occasionally.
The characters aren't, to be honest, of great depth. Everyone's secret feels stock - Claire's parents are mean and use her as a go between, Andrew's father is mean and competitive, Brian feels pressure, Bender's father beats him. But they are sympathetically depicted, they come from archetypes that work and provide inherent conflict (they could form the basis of a TV show today).
The Claire-Bender romance is believable even if you get the sense it will turn abusive and nasty soon - I mean, Bender is a nasty piece of work, he will be trouble. The Andrew-Alison romance wasn't convincing on screen and isn't on the page - they're just sort of thrown together. Brian-Alison might have made more sense.
Vern the teacher is a believable tired mean little man. The wise old janitor isn't as bad a figure as some people say - he's just a sympathetic guy.
Plot wise the film is really sequences - meeting everyone, Vern vs Bender, confession times, dancing, some pot smoking, sneaking out.
Some random notes:
- John Hughes was into Molly Ringwald's panties in 16 Candles and there's a panties scene here too (Bender with his head between Claire's legs)
- the team really are mean to the geek - he's teased a lot, and at the end they still make him do the essay
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