Review of Breakfast of Champions (1999) by Robert Z — 21 Jan 2019

After glimpsing potential in Rudolph's Trouble In Mind, I gave his adaptation of Vonnegut's 1973 novel a chance. Some nice touches at start which show a reverence for source, but film quickly becomes muddled.

For example, in the novel, Celia Hoover is already dead by suicide. In the film, she appears to be only an apparition, but then maybe she really is still alive. Magical realism? Hallucination? Intentional ambiguity? Who knows and who cares? This film sets a manic, disjointed tone from the start and never lets up.

Willis is OK as a well-groomed businessmen trying to hide his creeping insanity, and Glenne Headly as his receptionist/lover delivers a nicely restrained performance in what is otherwise an over-the-top ham fest, but a grumbly Albert Finney is miscast as Kilgore Trout and none of the characters exhibit more than a single dimension.

The end radically departs from the novel with maudlin additions by the filmmaker. The sentiment fails to connect and almost all the jokes fall flat. Skip Breakfast.