Starring: Bruce Willis, Albert Finney, Nick Nolte, Barbara Hershey, Glenne Headly Directed By: Alan Rudolph Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Walt Disney Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: June 30, 2000 Running Time: 110 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1999
Description: Superstar Bruce Willis (THE SIXTH SENSE) stars in this critically acclaimed, offbeat comedy about a man who's having a hard time getting a grip on his life! A millionaire car salesman who runs the biggest dealership in Midland City, Dwayne Hoover (Willis) is a celebrity, loved and trusted by everyone. Then one day, he wakes up and realizes that his life is a total mess! But between the headaches posed by his pill-popping wife (Barbara Hershey -- FALLING DOWN), a mistress (Glenne Headly -- MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS) who won't leave him alone, and a cross-dressing sales manager (Nick Nolte -- THE THIN RED LINE), Dwayne has picked a bad week for a midlife crisis! Based on the best-selling novel by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., this hilarious comedy and its incredible all-star cast will keep you laughing as Dwayne tries to keep from losing his mind!
Amazon.com: Director Alan Rudolph's adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Breakfast of Champions centers on suicidal car dealer Dwayne Hoover (Bruce Willis), his drug- and television-addled wife Celia (Barbara Hershey), his cross-dressing sales manager Harry (Nick Nolte), his dim secretary and mistress Francine (Glenne Headly), and Vonnegut's alter ego of sorts, pulp writer Kilgore Trout (Albert Finney). Dwayne is desperate for meaning in his life and starts to believe that Trout, who has been invited to the town's impending arts festival, will be able to tell him some truth he's never heard before. The EPA is investigating toxic sludge under property Dwayne owns, Celia is losing her already fragile grip on reality, Harry is growing increasingly paranoid that Dwayne knows about his private habits, and Francine is impatient with Dwayne's increasingly erratic behavior. Meanwhile, Kilgore Trout grouses about his failures and finally decides to attend the arts festival as a final act of self-humiliation. On top of all this, there are four or five other characters, all eccentric to the point of overload. It's difficult to get a fix on what the movie wants to be about, but Glenne Headly makes her character an island of sympathy in the ocean of everyone else's self-absorption, and Albert Finney creates some poignant moments as Trout is confronted by people who either scorn or worship his stories without any attempt to understand them. Featuring a cameo by Vonnegut. --Bret Fetzer
Yes, I Did Like This Movie I'm not sure who the intended audience was for Breakfast of Champions. Mainstream comedy viewers would tuck tail and run from a film like this, while the Vonnegut fans will(and do) hate it because of the plot changes and missing elements from the book. So I guess that just leaves that small number of folks who like far out and bizarre comedies. Now, I personally don't like comedies just for the fact that they're odd, but I do have a fascination in seeing high profile actors doing things we hardly ever see them do. This came out at the right time coz Willis was hot from that Armageddon pile of sludge. Breakfast of Champions is one of those films based on an "unfilmable" novel. We've seen this before in movies like Naked Lunch(mixed reviews from critics and Burroughs fans) and American Psycho(actually got favorable reviews). Doing Vonnegut is difficult coz his work is made for the book format due to his quirky and unique narration style. Naturally with a movie you pretty much lose that. One of the best things about Breakfast of Champions(the book) is that Vonnegut was the narrator and let the reader know that he was. He even puts himself in the story as a character! This is all lost in the film. Plus there are indeed changes made to the story which seem totally unnecessary and certainly don't add to or clarify the story in any way. I can definitely see why Vonnegut fans did not like this movie. However, and I'm only guessing here, I think Vonnegut himself might have liked the offbeat and wacky tone of this movie. He does have a cameo in it as well. Many folks have gone into the plot, so I won't waste too much time on that, but here's a little rundown: Duane Hoover(Bruce Willis) is a car salesman-a local celebrity everybody loves as though he were a movie star. He's going crazy. He doesn't know who he is or what his purpose is in life and he's off the deep end. He deals with a cross dressing salesman(Nick Nolte), a crazy fan who may want to take his place(Omar Epps), a pill popping wife(Barbara Hershey), and a son who is just about the worst lounge singer you've ever heard(Lucas Haas). Hoover thinks he might find some answers in Kilgore Trout(a reoccurring character in Vonnegut's novels), a failed Sci-Fi writer who has been invited to Hoover's town as part of an art festival. That's really about it. The style of the movie is fast paced , cartoony, hallucinatory, and zany. Everybody in this movie acts insane, especially Nolte and Epps. Though the two films are quite different, I'd compare this movie to Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas as far as the tone and visuals go. I realize that this isn't a great adaptation of a great novel, and that everyone hated it. I do have to admit however ,judging strictly as a movie, I though it was pretty damn funny. It doesn't all work, but some of it is quite clever and just so odd that it's hilarious. Of course not everyone will agree with that, but humor is a very personalized thing. I think Nolte steals the show. I have never seen him act so crazy before and it's a trip to see him like that. Epps would be a close second for the same reasons. Albert Finney makes a good Kilgore Trout and Willis is passable enough as Hoover. He definitely has his moments too! Watch at your own risk, coz this one is different to say the least.
I Lost My Breakfast I don't even want to talk about it. I hope Nick Nolte got a fat paycheck for wearing that red negligee. Makes his infamous DUI mug shot look good. The one authentic scene is where Dwayne reads about "himself" in Trout's book. Everything else--and I mean everything--is just awful.
A Fabulous piece of cinematic surrealism Certain of the films Bruce Willis has appeared in definitely cross the line between tongue-in-cheek and out and out surrealism, in the sense of Salvatore Dali or Heironymous Bosch. The most well known of these is certainly "The Fifth Element" - a wonderfully droll comedy of ultimate destruction! It is only recently that I encountered "Breakfast of Champions" as a film although I had been through Kurt Vonnegut's novel previously. There is the tired argument about how film adaptations of literary works are either too literal or too liberal. Film making is not novel writing, and even though the latter may be based on the former, it has to stand on its own merits irrespective of its origins. In this case, however loose the adaptation of the novel, the film works on so many levels. The clue, of course, if the title which, for those of you old enough to remember, was the advertising phrase for the breakfast cereal, Wheaties. That's enough of a clue - the crass fantasy world of television advertising, the brittle surface veneer covering a maelstrom of emotional angst, the absurd juxtapositions, the reversal of character where the seemingly crazy loner becomes the hero, the tragic ending where release brings resolution in the mental hospital lockup for one character, and death by dissolution into the running fantasy notion of paradise for the other. The ending of the film is terribly jarring - even if you expect it. Insanity is like that, I guess.
For my money, it's a brilliant bit of film making. Perhaps the most jarring part of the illusion is Willis with a head of hair and thin, steel framed glasses!
This is not one for people who can only think in linear fashion - no fantasy, especially surrealism, operates that way. Too many people complained, for example about the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" - it was too complex, went in too many directions, had too much detail. Nonsense. Too much of our pop culture is single tracked hip-hop sterile. Just as in music there are more meters than 2 or 3, so too in literature, the visual arts and in cinema as well.
Bravo. Well done.
Another of my favourite S.F. author I've the most of Vonnegut's S.F. books on my bookshelfs. Despite my often changing adress in my life, I've hang on to my S.F. literature, and now i'ts possible to get the movies too.
It is what it is I totally agree with those of you who are upset over the fact that this is not a "true" adaptation of Vonnegut's novel. When I first watched this movie I was expecting something a little truer to the original story, but once it started I realized that was not in the cards. So, I decided to turn my brain off and take this movie for what it is, entertainment. I have gone back and watched it since then, and still find it an enjoyable bit of fluff. I thought Willis did a wonderful job portraying a man who is losing his mind. Albert Finney was a very admirable Kilgore Trout, and Nick Nolte stole the show with his portrayal of Henry Le Sabre. I have read all of Vonnegut's wonderful novels, and am very pleased whenever someone decides to adapt one into film. Many fans may not be pleased with this particular piece, and in response to that I would refer them to Slaughterhouse-Five, and Mother Night. As for this flick goes, watch it for the drawings.
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