Breakfast of Champions

R

Released Sep 17, 1999

1 hr. 50 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

25%

48 Reviews

Tomatometer

31%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

An unhappy car dealer (Bruce Willis) believes that a dime-store author/philosopher (Albert Finney) has the answers to life's important questions.

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Critics Consensus

The movie is overwhelmed by its chaotic visual effects and disjointed storyline.

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Honest D

Reading the Kurt Vonnegut book that this unfortunate movie is based on might change your life, but this movie is a big old mess. It could have been so much more. Its kind of sad really.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/11/23

Full Review

Steve D

Unfocused and not at all amusing.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Breakfast of Champions is one of those rare movies where reading the book ahead of time makes the movie more enjoyable. Without having the context in place, Breakfast of Champions understandably baffles the sort of moviegoer who thinks there's any sanctity in Bruce Willis's repertoire.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie was one of the low points in Bruce Willis career without a doubt. This piece of cinema garbage from the guy who did die hard?? wow

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

guillaume h

The Material is top shelf from a master but the visual execution is messy wich makes it exhausting but always mesmerizing and really worth your time. If not, at least read the book.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Alan Rudolph

Director

Bruce Willis

Dwayne Hoover

Albert Finney

Kilgore Trout

Nick Nolte

Harry Le Sabre

Barbara Hershey

Celia Hoover

Glenne Headly

Francine Pefko

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Edward Lawrenson

Sight & Sound

Structurally, the film is a mess: on screen, the novel's digressive, anecdotal narrative seems directionless and muddled.

Jun 18, 2012

Full Review

Globe and Mail

Rated: 1.5/4

Mar 19, 2002

Full Review

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Rated: 2.5/5

Feb 14, 2001

Full Review

Kevin Carr

Fat Guys at the Movies

There's an amazingness to this train wreck... It makes every mistake you could possibly make in adapting a Kurt Vonnegut book.

Rated: 1/4

Feb 6, 2021

Full Review

Film Threat

Rated: 4/5

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Rated: 3/5

Nov 7, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

An unhappy car dealer (Bruce Willis) believes that a dime-store author/philosopher (Albert Finney) has the answers to life's important questions.

Director: Alan Rudolph
Screenwriter: Alan Rudolph, Kurt Vonnegut
Distributor: West Video, Ecovideo [pt], Buena Vista Pictures, Les Films de l'Astre, Walt Disney Company Ltd. [gb], Warner Bros., Argentina Video Home, Tobis Filmkunst, Mikado, Budapest Film Rt.
Production Co: Rational Packaging Company, Summit Entertainment, Rain City, Flying Heart Films, Sugar Creek Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 17, 1999, Wide
Box Office (Gross USA): $175.4K
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital