Review of The Road to Wellville (1994) by Tyler M — 31 Mar 2012

Health! The 'open sesame' to the sucker's purse!

This one was just...Not good.

The Story: An eccentric doctor, who also happens to be a cereal tycoon, runs a strange health spa, in which people are forced to practice unorthodox ways of keeping healthy. All the while a young man tries to start a cereal business of his own, with the help of a con artist, and the adopted son of the crazy doctor. It's a lot of sex jokes, crude humour, and not much more. There's a little bit style to it, but not much, and the story development moves slow. Some will enjoy it, others will be bored stiff early on.

The Cast: John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Matthew Broderick, Anthony Hopkins, Dana Carvey...I don't get it, this is a great set of actors...And this is not a great movie...Anthony Hopkins, is the doctor Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, owner and operater of the strange health spa. His character is fairly memorable and Hopkins does have his moments here, but they're few and far between. Bridget Fonda, and Matthew Broderick are a married couple, visiting the spa, trying to get healthy. They work together fine, both somewhat interesting, but the sad part is that the two of them only really manage to equal one interesting character. Not either of their best performances. John Cusack, plays the part of a young man trying to start up a cereal business of his own. Unfortunately, he's in business with a group of no-goods. His character is my personal favorite of this movie, but that might be because he's my favorite actor in the cast. He's the only "normal" character in the movie, everyone else is just plain over the top. Dana Carvey, a small role, but fans of his can't be too choosy as we don't see too much of him around these days. He's the adopted son of the doctor, filthy, creepy, and a little funny. It's not his greatest role, but it's not his worst.

One to Five Scale: 2.

Despite it's great cast, the jokes are just stupid, and the characters for the most part are a little too over the top. If you're a die hard fan of Hopkins, Cusack, Broderick, or too a lesser extent Carvey, you might find something here...But you'll have to be a very die hard fan.

Tyler.