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List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Walt Disney Video
Salesrank: 58213
Released: June 30, 2000 |
| Our Price: $32.45 |
| Used Price: $14.45 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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!
Description of Breakfast of Champions:
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
Breakfast of Champions Reviews:
It's not the book but a good movie nonetheless 
2009-12-24 - As with many other reviewers, I have to concur that it is somewhat ridiculous to expect the book to translate well into film (there's way too much going on in the book to be able to squeeze it all into a movie). That being said, this is a good, solid comedy based on the core story of the novel and I think the {all-star} cast does an excellent job (most of all Albert Finney as Kilgore Trout -- ..."where I come from that means you're about to steal a mirror...").
If you've read the book and expect the movie to be exactly what you read, you will no doubt be disappointed (I don't think I've ever seen a film adaptation that really lived up to it's literary counterpart/basis).
If you've read the book and can manage your expectations, I think you'll enjoy this movie as much as I did.
If you've never read the book, then, well...read the book! Probably one of the main reasons this film never really made a big hit at the box office was that most of the audience couldn't follow along with the admittedly erratic behavior of the characters since they had never read the book (not to mention it never got the pre-release hype that "big" Hollywood films get -- whether they're good or bad).
a horrible waste of talent, money, and my time 
2009-03-15 - I have read a lot of accurate reviews here, i.e., the negative ones. There are not any elements of the film that succeed, other than technical ones, such as lighting and sound. Imagine all the effort, set design, practicing of lines, electricity, and people=hours in general that went into making this turd. As I said, a horrible waste.
Great Movie 
2009-02-15 - I read the book many years ago. Found the movie to be very good - brought back many memories of the book. Bruce Willis does a great job of playing a disturbing character.
Yes, I Did Like This Movie
2008-09-22 - 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
2008-06-06 - 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.
