The Bonfire Of The Vanities 1990

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: The film was cast wrong and written shallowly. Read more

Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times: Certainly Wolfe's canvas might lend itself to a broad approach, but broad like Dr. Strangelove, not broad like the Three Stooges. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: If you're interested in a faithful visual adaptation of Wolfe's novel, be assured that this isn't it. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: What a mess. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: If you loved Wolfe's book, you may very well hate the movie. If you simply liked the novel, you may be simultaneously entertained and disappointed by what De Palma and Cristofer have done to it. Read more

Vincent Canby, New York Times: By being consistent, the novel transcends its own cynicism to become healthily skeptical. This is just what Brian De Palma's gross, unfunny movie adaptation does not do. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: One of the most indecently bad movies of the year. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Those who have read the book will be constantly distracted because they know so much more than the movie tells them about the characters. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: On film, Bonfire achieves a consistency of ineptitude rare even in this era of over-inflated cinematic air bags. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: If anything, it's a Hanks 'little boy lost' movie, more in the Big tradition than The Big Tradition. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Brian De Palma's take on Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities is a misfire of inanities. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: If the strength of the novel was the interplay between Wolfe's dry-white reportage and the sensational, tabloid-tacky humorous events he wrote about, Vanities-the-movie just goes for the tacky jugular. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: A calamity of miscasting and commercial concessions. Read more