Honda reveals Ferris Bueller Super Bowl ad, wonders why you’re still here

Honda's plot to turn its Super Bowl ads into a Circus of the Stars calvacade begins here, with the extended remix of the Ferris Bueller-themed ad starring Matthew Broderick airing Sunday to tout the new 2012 Honda CR-V. Who was it that said "remember when" is the lowest form of conversation?

For two minutes Broderick, looking as fresh-faced and awake as he has in years, gallops through a faked sick day with a Honda CR-V as his steed in place of a 1961 Ferrari 250GT California -- and therein lies the key to why the conceit doesn't really work. If the video was meant to suggest the CR-V as a fun, seize-the-day vehicle, it's only moderately successful. If the video was meant to spawn wistful feelings for cherished and better-built moments from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," mission accomplished. We heard at least one other automaker considered this very pitch and turned it down, worried it focused too much on Ferris and not his wheels. They were right.