Self-absorbed, ridiculously carried-away trash that thinks it's way more edgy and pertinent than it actually is. An adaptation of a popular novel, it's clearly the victim of a studio mandate to swing hard, if not particularly accurately. It's loaded with starpower, with Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith and Morgan Freeman sharing the spotlight, but none can help their sailing astronomically over the top with the material. Each character is more selfish and despicable than the last, even Freeman's grandstanding judge and Hanks's over-his-head bond trader on trial as political fodder. Lofty hunks of social commentary are swung around with all the subtlety of a war hammer, belaboring the point until we all lay bruised, bloodied and beaten on the floor. Potentially-pointed stereotypes get played like aces, but fail to register as more than a long series of cartoon characters with a big vocabulary. It's confused, sneering and wretched; no surprise it could only attract flies at the box office.

It was clear to me right from the first scene of "The Bonfire of the Vanities" that I wouldn’t like the movie. The tone just doesn’t work from the start, and Bruce Willis (just like Tom Hanks) is rather miscast. But at that point, I didn’t yet know just how much the movie would annoy me. Above all, the satire just didn’t land for me at all, and director Brian De Palma’s decision to go for a very over-the-top style of direction only made matters worse. I really have nothing against dark comedies, but they have to strike exactly the right tone. This movie fails to do that, which is why I can’t recommend it.

The fall of a yuppie.

In 2022, this film still holds up with its all-star cast and strong story line. But, even more reason to watch it today is to measure how our society hasn't held up as well with all its political name-calling and online bullying that has pushed personal honor and integrity to one side. Just saying. Perhaps it can be a shiny mirror to help us decide how and where we want to make shifts in our lives to "regain our soul"-- pulling from the last lines of the film--once again. M’y score 7/10.