The first 2 thirds of this were really quite watchable and successful in my view. Only the last 3rd starts to go a bit wrong - as the actors seems unsure how to top what they have already done and you see them lose confidence or start to imitate their earlier performances with fixed/glazed expressions. The final courtroom speech by Morgan Freeman also seems contrived and insincere. That said, everything else seemed spot on to me, I liked the almost cartoonish approach to the characterisation - Seinfeld did the same a lot of the time and was praised - and I liked the locations, costumes, camera movements etc. Tom Hanks is very good here in my view, more likable than when he plays the all-American good guy. Perhaps more could have been done with the Bruce Willis character - show his vanity and nastiness some more as in the book. But, like many reviewers here, not sure why this movie was so despised at the time.
Review of The Bonfire of the Vanities
