La hoguera de las vanidades

I got excited when I heard the great dubbing job on Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks on TV. Bruce had a very nice drunken scene right in the beginning of the movie which was quite interesting to watch. It was so interesting that I watched the whole movie. But then Tom had an important scene in Bronx and since then it got terribly boring. The beginning of the film was truly great but then it got worse and worse. I have never seen such a butchered movie… (28.12.2017)

We are used to pretty different stuff from De Palma, and not for nothing. His attempt at a comedy with social criticism may lack the necessary insight and wry irony and boasts an unprecedented array of sumptuous performances, but that makes it all the more unconvincing, uninteresting and somewhat arid. In his mafia epics, the director used to throw one memorable scene after another and build on unique period atmospheres, but this film totally lacks any of that and just knowing that I felt fine while watching it doesn't pull it out of the cumbersome average... (31.03.2012)

The story of Tom Wolfe's novel is typical of post-journalism and the term "great American novel" in general (which is not excluded). It turns, individually and in its entirety, to the foundations of American society, building on the most banal conflicts to expose a typecast story in a setting so familiar. We've got the shallow white class, we've got black hicks, manipulators, ladies, mistresses... and Wall Street and the courtroom. And, of course, the desire for money. That's kind of how I imagine Hollywood was back then. Like a critical mirror with a top star cast. The narrator is Bruce Willis, the anti-hero is Tom Hanks, the blonde is Mell Griffith, the wife is Kim Cattrall (and her daughter Kirsten Dunst), and the judge with a higher moral principle is Morgan Freeman. (15.08.2017)