Review of The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) by Zane T — 31 Jul 2010

It's not as bad as you've heard, but it's not as good as it could have been. The problem is the casting, Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis all belong in another movie. Morgan Freeman seems to be doing a version of his Crazy Joe Clark from Lean on Me as a judge who screams for 95 percent of his screen time and then is supposed to deliver a monologue as the voice of reason.

Kim Cattrall just sucks in her role as a pampered Park Avenue wife. The best performance are by John Hancock as a parody of Al Sharpton, Clifton James as a good ole boy southern shyster lawyer, F. Murrary Abraham as a ambitious politician and Saul Rubinek as a snivleing prosecutor.

Unfortunately, a movie where the supporting roles are good is a half way good movie. Hanks and Willis are just too nice as a Wall-Street scumbucket and a unscrupulous reporter, respectively. Maybe if Kevin Spacey was casted as Sherman McCoy and Gary Cole as Peter Fallow, this movie would have worked, but both were just character actors when this movie was made.

Now, no one will ever remake this movie. Which is a shame, because it was a good no-hold-barred look at the mess that was the 1980's.