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Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Bridget Fonda, Matthew Broderick, John Cusack, Lara Flynn Boyle
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Road to Wellville |
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Turn of the century Americans try new ways to get healthy.
--Emily, Resident Scholar
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This is a fanciful comedy about a man, Mr. Kellogg, who believes the only way to be truly happy and healthy is to purge yourself completely. At this sanatarium, a couple, played by Bridget Fonda and Matthew Broderick, try to "fix" themselves. The husband has stomach problems and the wife, well, has certain needs that arent being met. Also in the mix, there lies John Cusack's character. He is desparately trying to start a cornflake business, and in the end, steals the coveted corn flake recipe from you-know-who. This film is not only hilarious, but satisfies a cerebral need in all of us.
--Heidi Jo, Resident Scholar
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One doesn't turn to British writer-director Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning, Angel Heart, Pink Floyd The Wall) for subtlety, but then, he began his career writing advertising copy and filming commercials. His adaptation of T. Coraghessan Boyle's novel about the 19th century cereal and health fanatic, Doctor John Harvey Kellogg, and his spa in Battle Creek, Michigan, wastes a lot of good actors in what is not much more than a sex and bodily functions farce. Anthony Hopkins is bravely eccentric as Kellogg, Dana Carvey manic as his damaged adopted nephew. Matthew Broderick and Bridget Fonda play a young couple who come to the spa to be treated (Broderick is mightily abused, though both get into sexual shenanigans), and John Cusack is badly underutilized as a young and naive entrepreneur trying to start his own corn flakes empire. Also look for Lara Flynn Boyle as a cadaverous patient, Camryn Mannheim as a much healthier specimen, Colm Meaney as a health hucksterer, John Neville as a fairly dignified spa fan. Traci Lind is a delectable nurse. There are a lot of bare breasts and butts (especially male) in this movie, but never to so little effect. Don't expect more than a kind of genteel, grownup "South Park."
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Road to Wellville |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 19th century
Kind of comedy
- political satire
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Events of movie makes character more...
- irritated
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average build
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
- dumb Rednecks, like Gomer Pyle
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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