| Breakfast of Champions | | Cast : | Bruce Willis, Albert Finney, Nick Nolte | | Director : | Alan Rudolph | | Studio : | Walt Disney Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | June 30, 2000 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 14, 2005 | | Summary | Junk, the whole movie should've ended up on the cutting room floor | Content
 | I didn't read the book; I purchased it based on the actors, that was a huge mistake. Had I paid attention to the people who rated this with one star I could have spared myself the anguish of watching it. I have 24 movies with Bruce Willis in them and its goes without saying I now have 23 this went in the trash. I wouldn't think of even giving it away for fear someone found out I actually paid money for this garbage. I have a collection pushing 1800 DVDs and this is the first time I have had to write a negative review. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 03, 2004 | | Summary | Be afraid! | Content
| Fans of the novel upon which this movie is based be warned! This cloddish film shows none of the spunk or wit of Vonnegut's masterful work! Do yourself a favour and put the two hours you would have spent watching the film version "Breakfast of Champions" towards reading another Vonnegut book. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 03, 2004 | | Summary | Retroactive collapse | Content
| Vonnegut is one of my favorites, and "Breakfast of Champions" is my favorite of his works. I looked forward for weeks to the release of the film version, only to leave deflated.
What's so disappointing about the adaptation is that it works for almost the entire running length of the movie. The surreal aspects are handled well and the absurdity of life put forth by the novel is completely present.
The deal is, "BOC" literally climaxes on the last page with a scene in which main character Kilgore Trout meets his maker, to wit Vonnegut himself. This crucial and absurd scene could have been adapted only literally, but it wasn't. It was reinterpreted, showing Trout melting into a sort of Maxfield Parrish painting. Maybe Vonnegut couldn't be had for this scene, or maybe he wouldn't agree to have an actor portray him. Who knows. This mis-done sequence, though, because it was so crucial, tainted everything that had come before. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 30, 2004 | | Summary | Until you're dead, it's all life! | Content
| I think this movie was an EXCELLENT adaptation of the book. The only fault I find with the plot change is that in the movie version, Dwayne's wife is still alive, and in the book, she'd already committed suicide. I think it's better for her to already be dead; it eliminates the which-woman-do-I-choose problem that takes away from the real story.
The movie is less depressing than the book, especially at the end. I think that's fine. In fact, I highly recommend reading the book and watching the movie at the same time--or as close to the same time as you can. If you are familiar with the illustrations in the book, the movie credits are HYSTERICAL! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 17, 2004 | | Summary | ...And Cut | Content
| You know, some books were never meant for the world of film. Despite how popular and well loved they may be by everyone, that doesn't mean it'll make a successful movie. "Breakfast of Champions" is a perfect example of this. While it proves to be a masterpiece in the written form, it ends up being one lousy film that tries so hard to be funny and fails almost every time. The movie follows the basic premise of the book, but adds and changes things around (which I understand, because most of the stuff in that book wouldn't be able to translate on film--hence, why it should've never been done in the first place). Dwayne Hoover is a car dealer that everybody loves and trusts. Dwayne Hoover, is also losing his mind. From his pill-popping wife to his cross-dressing business buddy, Dwayne is losing his grip on reality on a daily basis. Soon, he will meet a sci-fi writer that nobody has ever heard of (except for one deranged fan), Kilgore Trout. Their meeting will be the final straw for Dwayne and chaos will be the aftermath. What made the book so funny in the first place was the actual commentary by Vonnegut as the overall narrator. It wasn't necessarily funny only because of the characters and their actions, but mainly because of Kurt Vonnegut's voice. Of course, they have to do away with the narration in order to have it work on film. The problem is, however, it doesn't work. It feels like a bad imitation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." It's rarely funny nor is it strange, it's just plain annoying. The only way this film will be understood by others is if they have read the book ahead of time. And even if they've done that, they'll only end up being more ticked off at the debauchery that is the movie, "Breakfast of Champions." I wasn't expecting a dead-on adaptation, just something to do the book some kind of justice. Sorry to say, this film does no such thing. The DVD has almost no special features, and for the first time ever--I could care less. In fact, I'd be even more ticked off if this DVD had tons of special features while other great movies have "doodley-squat" for special features. "Breakfast of Champions," while a literary masterpiece, is a "fabulously well-to-do" dud as a movie. I can't even recommend this to people who haven't read the book, as they'll most likely despise it since they will have no idea what is going on. This movie is living proof that some timeless literary classics were never meant for the big screen. I think Vonnegut would agree with that. In fact, with all of the rants he does on entertainment, TV, and short attention spans, it wouldn't surprise me if Vonnegut structured the book to be un-filmable on purpose. Avoid it and stick to the book, if you want my honest opinion. -Michael Crane |
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