Breakfast of Champions (1999)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Alan Rudolph

Writers (WGA):

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (book)
Alan Rudolph (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 February 1999 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

In a world gone mad, you can trust Dwayne Hoover.

Plot:

A portrait of a fictional town in the mid west that is home to a group of idiosyncratic and slightly neurotic characters...

Plot Keywords:

Black Comedy | Lounge Singer | Cross Dressing | Surrealism | Box Office Flop

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Dwayne Hoover
Albert Finney	...	Kilgore Trout
Nick Nolte	...	Harry Le Sabre
Barbara Hershey	...	Celia Hoover
Glenne Headly	...	Francine Pefko
Lukas Haas	...	George 'Bunny' Hoover
Omar Epps	...	Wayne Hoobler
Vicki Lewis	...	Grace Le Sabre
Buck Henry	...	Fred T. Barry
Ken Hudson Campbell	...	Eliot Rosewater / Gilbert (as Ken Campbell)
Jake Johannsen	...	Bill Bailey
Will Patton	...	Moe the Truck Driver
Chip Zien	...	Andy Wojeckowzski
Owen Wilson	...	Monte Rapid
Alison Eastwood	...	Maria Maritimo

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and some language.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:S | Australia:M | South Korea:18 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | France:U | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Twin Falls, Idaho, USA

Company:

Flying Heart Films

Trivia:

The lit circular arrow sign for "Exit 11 Motor Village" now lives on the north side of Barton's 93 casino in Jackpot Nevada. The picture of Bruce Willis has been replaced with the 93 logo.

Quotes:

Dwayne Hoover: It's all life until your dead.

Movie Connections:

Follows Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

Soundtrack:

Coronation

terminus

I'm afraid that in the era of pop-no-where-ism, where the reality show sets the rules; films like this one will get worse and worse reviews as time moves on. I didn't read Vonnegut until my early thirties and I grew up with Vonnegut's as a kid-no kidding. When I started reading, I just read and read in one extensive gulp. First, there's no good way to try to adapt a Vonnegut book to film. To the reviewers -if you can call them that-who say I've read the book and this movie is a miserable adaptation-go figure?! This is a very good vetting of the themes Vonnegut loves, and using the rambling urban neuroses approach, mastered by Altman, Rudolph revvs us up for the big psychic upchuck that this is all about. This is not a great movie but given the importance of self reflection to American society and the rarity of it, in contemporary society-this movie is a landmark and a watermark, both.