After his mistress runs over a black teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight; A down-and-out reporter breaks the story and opportunists clamber to use it to their advantage.
Similar titles
Reviews
As I said, it is very entertaining, funny, interesting and a very good movie! and I couldn't understand why some people criticize and rated it very low, I assure you this is a very entertaining movie I watched in years, brilliant acting, excellent script and it will not let you leave your chair until you finish watching it. I gave it 9 not because I want to bring it up from under-rating, but I actually think it deserves 9/10
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.
This is a great movie. No question about it. It has great casting, direction, cinematography and the screenplay is excellent. The people comparing this to a book need to grow up. A movie is never going to be a book, and since it is a movie it is a different version than the book. You have to expect that, it is like two different bands covering the same tune, they are going to perform it differently. This movie is a stand-alone work and should be viewed that way. It has drama, comedy, action and suspense. Reading a book is a waste of time when there is an excellent movie like this. The book Fight Club was weak and without that great movie, you would have never heard of the book. This is no exception, it has a wonderful plot and the Bruce Willis character adds just the right touch to the film.
Thanks to this film, I have now resolved to avoid film adaptations whenever possible. I saw the film on release and walked out of the theatre. Tom Hanks is passable. Melanie Griffith's awful Southern accent is distracting. Bruce Willis is horribly miscast as a wry British journalist. We should be thankful that he doesn't attempt a British accent, but without the outsider status and the subtlety that such a role demands, Willis falls flat. DePalma takes the novel's wry winks and turns them into desperate leers. It's like Steve Martin in character as The Jerk is sitting next to me in the theatre with a laser pointer saying say "LOOK! HOW FUNNY!!!".If I could bring myself to watch the film again, I could go on and on pointing out particular moments that irked me into walking out on this film (something I very rarely do). Fat chance.I realize that many folks out there will have never read Wolfe's excellent book, and if you haven't, this film might work as passable farce. If you HAVE read the book, you will very likely hate this film.
