Leofwine_draca
THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES has gone down in history as one of the worst movie flops ever made and I'm inclined to agree. I have no interest in the material and I only watched this because De Palma directed; the director does his best to keep things interesting but unfortunately he can only do so much with the material and other than the opening tracking shot there's nothing very impressive here.The story is slow and long-winded and full of unpleasant characters. Bruce Willis is in it for name value but feels badly miscast in the role of the writer. Tom Hanks looks uncomfortable throughout and his character comes across as false and artificial. The less said about Melanie Griffith and her dreadful performance the better.The film just sort of drags on and on without ever achieving anything. I understand how it's supposed to be a satire of wealth and fame and the yuppie culture but the humour falls flat and the whole courtroom drama thing is dragged out to the degree that it becomes really boring. Other than the novelty of seeing Morgan Freeman in an against-type role this really is a pointless exercise.
jeff-41910
This will be a short review. I had not watched this movie for over 20 years. When I originally watched it I thought it was a fair to good comedy but way over the top. Watching it in 2016 it no longer seems way over the top but a movie grounded in today's reality.Network, The Hospital, and The Bonfire of the Vanities are all movies that are 25+ years old. Yet all 3 of them seemed over the top when they were released but now they all seem clairvoyant about what would become the reality of 2016.It is interesting how at times life ends up imitating art. One wonders what other movies will be seen as over the top today but in 20+ years clairvoyant...
rzajac
In one sense, TBotV is "The Wolf of Wall Street", done right the first time.There's a manic unhingedness about Wolff's writing, and the scenario/writing in the movie courageously tries to capture that. It's a broad and multi-dimensioned exposition on the excesses of success. Huzzah for that!But translating it to the screen is also a juggling act--and other balls get dropped in this flick.By way of one example, I cringed during each and every one of the the courtroom scenes. While I applaud the film's effort to show the multifarious tentacles of the monster of excess, the writer(s) overstepped--or perhaps just misapplied the tone--when they attempt to show what it looks like when one of those tentacles slithers into a courtroom.Y'know, the more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that part of what niggles at me about TBotV is its nonstop cavalcade of exposition. These expositional freight trains, in general, tend to be tiring; film needs to "breathe" a little. It reminds me of what Wolff says about Chomsky in "Manufacturing Consent"; academics seize upon politics as an opportunity to act "like clergy". Well, TBotV sometimes comes off like a liturgical treatment of its subject matter. Perhaps Wolff didn't like Chomsky treading on his turf!Anyway, the film sometimes seems on the verge of drowning under the weight and viscosity of its own expressionism. But I still feel it's worth watching for how skillfully the actors acquit themselves to the task of hammering out that expressionism, as well as marveling at the dedication of the director to unstintingly wielding that hammer, and the courage of the producers for budgeting this off-kilter merry-go-'round.
gavin6942
After his mistress (Melanie Griffith) runs over a young teen, a Wall Street hotshot (Tom Hanks) sees his life unravel in the spotlight, and attracting the interest of a down and out reporter (Bruce Willis).This film has a relatively low rating, especially when you consider the A-list cast and top-notch director. I can only suspect that is because there is no way to categorize this film. While it is clearly a comedy, it is both dark and satirical and yet just plain silly at times.Is it a commentary on the justice system? Or perhaps on Wall Street? Maybe even journalism? Maybe if I read the Tom Wolfe novel I would get a better sense of the message. Otherwise, I just have to think there is no message at all and this film is a big-fisted boxer who refuses to punch.Overall, the film was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actress (Melanie Griffith), Worst Supporting Actress (Kim Cattrall) and Worst Screenplay, but did not win any of those categories. A shame?
AD
