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The Bonfire of the Vanities

Play trailer Poster for The Bonfire of the Vanities R 1990 2h 6m Comedy Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
15% Tomatometer 54 Reviews 26% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
In this adaptation of the Tom Wolfe novel, powerful Wall Street executive Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) is riding with his greedy girlfriend, Maria (Melanie Griffith), when she makes a wrong turn and winds up in the Bronx. There, she runs over a black boy and drives off without reporting it. When alcoholic tabloid reporter Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis) discovers the story, he knows it will be scandalous and riles up New Yorkers with his coverage of the case, which soon goes to trial.
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The Bonfire of the Vanities

The Bonfire of the Vanities

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Critics Consensus

The Bonfire of the Vanities is a vapid adaptation of a thoughtful book, fatally miscast and shorn of the source material's crucial sense of irony. Add it to the pyre of Hollywood's ambitious failures.

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Critics Reviews

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Jay Boyar Orlando Sentinel 06/28/2013
3/5
If you're interested in a faithful visual adaptation of Wolfe's novel, be assured that this isn't it. Go to Full Review
Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer 06/28/2013
1.5/4
What a mess. Go to Full Review
Peter Travers Rolling Stone 06/28/2013
On film, Bonfire achieves a consistency of ineptitude rare even in this era of over-inflated cinematic air bags. Go to Full Review
Ernece B. Kelly The Crisis 11/27/2023
An exaggerated tone pervades, and it confuses. Go to Full Review
Terry Francis Southern Voice (Atlanta) 05/09/2023
0/4
Destroys the form of the original alright, but it also destroys the book's themes in their entirety. Go to Full Review
Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 11/30/2022
The film is totally deranged. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Leaburn O 3d My favourite ever novel, so it was always going to struggle to impress me when put to film. But….I don’t get the ratings at all. I enjoyed it and thought it was good fun. Ok, so the book is still miles better but the impressive cast here put together a fun satirical version that was really enjoyable. Watched on DVD. See more thiago s @Thiagostone Sep 22 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom See more Blu B Sep 15 Well...it ain't good but it's not exactly a train wreck either. It just doesn't work well at what it wants to do and I honestly barely think I know what it's going for. Like a black comedy meta court case sort of thing. It's very difficult to tell. The strongest thing is DePalma's direction which is the one good thing here. The camerawork is really good, framing, and production value. The problem is while I get every scene on it's own I don't get really the main story and two, I laughed once. Once and it took 82 minutes in to get to it. The acting of an all star cast isn't good mainly because of the poor and VERY flat and confusing material they are given to work with. Everything is clearly trying but are just weighed down terribly by the flat and confusing material. It's so odd. It's not cringe or Dad humor. It's sort of like out of place and unfunny delivery. This seems to be a running problem with DePalma where he just cna't do comedies very well. It's his crux it seems. The editing and pacing just aren't good because of it and it's not really clear what kind of tone it's going for. Serious delivery but flat humor overlayed just makes it very confusing. This also is particulary jumpy going from Willis's naration which just disappears at times. Hanks and jumping around between other people and it's just not in a very clear way how everything connects. Than the weird speech at the end by Freeman adds a racial commentary which...feels so out of place and makes no sense. Music is boring, generic and forgettable as well. Cinemaography isn't bad though thanks to DePalma with the only problem being the humor just ruining everything. Really is a testament to how strong the direction is. This would be unatchable if it wasn't for that. Skip This regardless. See more Horror fan 4 Mar 25 Even with an all Star lineup of stars couldn't hold up this movie from eventually sinking. The satire was good but the comedy was hit and mostly miss. Tim Treakle See more redskin s 03/09/2024 As a journalist for almost 30 years this movie hits painfully close to the mark...this is how it actually works. A brilliant effort by DePalma, one of his best works See more John A @ExcessMale 07/20/2023 Discombobulating adaptation of an 80's best-selling novel. The magnanimous cast and Brian De Palma make this fascinating thematic bonfire of sorts watchable but it is still an ambitious... See more Read all reviews
The Bonfire of the Vanities

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Movie Info

Synopsis In this adaptation of the Tom Wolfe novel, powerful Wall Street executive Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) is riding with his greedy girlfriend, Maria (Melanie Griffith), when she makes a wrong turn and winds up in the Bronx. There, she runs over a black boy and drives off without reporting it. When alcoholic tabloid reporter Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis) discovers the story, he knows it will be scandalous and riles up New Yorkers with his coverage of the case, which soon goes to trial.
Director
Brian De Palma
Producer
Brian De Palma, Chris Woods
Screenwriter
Michael Cristofer
Production Co
Warner Bros.
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 1, 2007
Runtime
2h 6m
Sound Mix
Surround, Stereo
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