John Hughes Visionary or Hack?

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I know John Hughes is all the rage now, Judd Apatow is a big fan and the new Spider Man movie is going to have a "John Hughes vibe"
http://www.themarysue.com/feige-spider-man-john-hughes/
Except for his magnum opus "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," he's pretty much the definition of meh. Plus he had a racist streak in "16 Candles" regarding Asians, not to mention that black people apparently don't even exist in the Hughesverse.
Any thoughts?

He was neither. He made some great films which are fun and thoughtful. Apatow does not have the same understanding of character or sympathy to make films like that. I think the closest thing is Kevin Smith, and he is probably deeper. Chasing Amy is better than a lot of Hughes' stuff aimed at adults, and Tusk was brilliant, unlike Weird Science. You could make a good argument for Tusk being Smith's best, whereas Hughes really petered out as time went on. Preston Sturges is also not unlike Hughes, though he came much earlier and was definitely wittier. I love The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris, but none of them holds a candle to Sturges' Unfaithfully Yours.

He made some pretty memorable movies for their time, but I hardly think that makes him a genius or a hack. Then again, I'm sure people said the same thing about Shakespeare's plays during his life time.