The soundtrack for the film, limited to 5,000 copies, was released on September 13, 2016 by La-La Land Records. The album includes new wave and pop songs featured in the film, as well as Ira Newborn's complete score, including unused cues. Due to licensing restrictions, "Twist and Shout," "Taking The Day Off," and "March of the Swivelheads" were not included, but are available elsewhere. The Flowerpot Men's "Beat City" makes its first official release on CD with a new mix done by The Flowerpot Men's Ben Watkins and Adam Peters that differs from the original 7" fan club release. The film largely received positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, calling it "one of the most innocent movies in a long time," and "a sweet, warm-hearted comedy." Richard Roeper called the film "one of my favorite movies of all time. It has one of the highest 'repeatability' factors of any film I've ever seen ... I can watch it again and again. There's also this, and I say it in all sincerity: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is something of a suicide prevention film, or at the very least a story about a young man trying to help his friend gain some measure of self-worth ... Ferris has made it his mission to show Cameron that the whole world in front of him is passing him by, and that life can be pretty sweet if you wake up and embrace it. That's the lasting message of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."" Roeper pays homage to the film with a license plate that reads "SVFRRIS". Conservative columnist George Will hailed "Ferris" as "the moviest movie," a film "most true to the general spirit of the movies, the spirit of effortless escapism." Essayist Steve Almond called "Ferris" "the most sophisticated teen movie [he] had ever seen," adding that while Hughes had made a lot of good movies, "Ferris" was the "one film [he] would consider true art, [the] only one that reaches toward the ecstatic power of teendom [sic] and, at the same time, exposes the true, piercing woe of that age." Almond also applauded Ruck's performance, going so far as saying he deserved the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor of 1986: "His performance is what elevates the film, allows it to assume the power of a modern parable."