Bonfire of the Vanities

I love this film for its humorous exploration of the complex interchange and often corruption between the ultra-rich, lawyers, politicians, the police, the press, religious leaders, husbands and wives, etc.. it's always tricky when a film is based on a book; of course the book has more time to delve, and it makes people look smart to say that 'the book was so much better'.. i absolutely love this movie, a great sense of humor, with great performances to boot!

This is a great book that I discovered on audio; the movie does not even come close; I wish I had read the reviews before purchasing it; I am reminded of other DePalma movies that like "dressed to kill", which were notable only for shock value; the subtleties of the main character, Shurman McCoy, are totally lost in this movie; the final scene, where he smilingly plays in court the tape recording of a conversation vindicating him, is as far off the chart as one can imagine; the real character is much more nuanced and conflicted about lying that he made the tape.

That's all.

Gave up watching after 20 minutes !!! Watching paint dry is more exciting.

While I do remember this movie keeping me entertained, I was never able to get past one of the worst movie decisions I can recall. In the book, the character played by Bruce Willis was very intriguing specifically because he was English. His views on America were insightful, witty and challenged the reader to think. For some reason, Hollywood decided this didn't sell and made the character Bruce Willis with no accent?? The movie must be punished for this reason alone. Do yourself a favor, read the book. A great read that far outpaces the screenplay.

This film is a problematic, yet watchable picture that has been crucified more than is deserved. Standing alone, it has some relatively charming performances and an overarching irony that is quite appealing. However, its major sin is having created a mediocre film from arguably one of the greatest American satires of the twentieth century. Mr.DePalma struck a few lovely chords, namely, playing with Wolfe's reportage narrative. Yet, cramming so many grandiose themes into a marketable time frame resulted in a box office dud and an artistic kiss of Judas. For those of you game to judge harshly, remember, the movies are still more an industry than an art (a regrettable fact).

The movie did a good job of portraying an award winning book by an award winning author. Although it is true that the cast of actors have all had better films, all the actors did a good job portraying their characters. I particularly liked Morgan Freeman's admonishment to the courtroom about Justice and Tom Hank's realization that his fall from grace happened 1000X faster than the climb took to get there. I saw a real correlation between Tom Hanks character in the movie and the real life tribulations of Tiger Woods. I would recommend this film for your library, or at least highly recommend it as a rental.

This movie never seems to have gotten the respect it deserved. It burns the wall street big shots, the shallow and self important blow hards of New York high society, politicians, and even an "Al Sharpton"-like character shamelessly using the plight of an "innocent" minority individual to selfishly promote his own political stature. Many good scenes, such as when when the cops come to visit Sherman, when Sherman decides to end his wife's social event with a shotgun, and the last scene when the judge brings down judgement on everyone. Most of all this movie is an indictment of the press, that slimy profession, which seeks to manipulate everyone and never provides the whole truth for one simple reason ... it doesn't sell.

Where is The Money Pit???!!!

what an embarrassment to everyone involved. I think this has to be one of the worst movies I have seen, ever. Poor writing and excessive production. The overwrought sets and cinematography seek to conceal the overall horribleness. The movie was not intended to be a comedy, but the movie studio felt the need to market it that way, and edited it accordingly.