Matthew Broderick Spoofs 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' for Honda Ad

Two of my kids were sick this weekend so there was a lot of TV/movie watching, a lot of begging for Mom to wait on them and snuggle up next to them (while hopefully not coming down with whatever dread disease the kiddos had) and lot of complaints of the "I'm bored!" variety.

When I could take the whining no longer, I finally agreed to sit down with them yesterday afternoon and watch a movie, but only if I got to pick the movie. (They'd already watched The Zookeeper on On Demand while I read the Sunday newspapers and tried not to listen to Kevin James' kvetching.)

After scrolling through the list of On Demand films that were free -- The Spouse and I paid to watch Moneyball the other night (I recommend it) so I wasn't keen on paying for more movies -- I settled on Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's tough to pick a film they'll all watch when the audience is comprised of two males, ages 10 and 13 who are fond of bathroom humor, and one female, 13, who likes smart gal comedies on Nickelodeon.

"This was made in 1986!" my 13-year-old son observed.

"What, is it in black and white?" asked the 10-year-old.

"I watched this movie when I was in high school!" I scoffed, not rising to the ageist bait.

I loved the walk down memory lane -- the film holds up well -- while my offspring were mildly amused, mostly by the antics of the principal and Ferris tricking his parents.

So it was serendipitous to log onto the internet today and discover that Matthew Broderick has made an ad for Honda, to promote the 2012 CRV, that revisits his most famous movie role. In the new ad, which is slated to air during the Super Bowl, he is the fortysomething celebrity Matthew, not the teenaged fictional Ferris, and he wants to take the day off from acting, as opposed to skipping a mind numbing day of high school.

My kids seemed more entertained by the ad than they were by the whole film. But it is a funny ad.