Among the 31 movies that Warner Bros. Entertainment has made available for free viewing on YouTube is a film that has drawn ire from its cast and was critically panned, ultimately fading into obscurity despite featuring well-known stars like Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks. This film is The Bonfire of the Vanities, and thanks to Warner Bros.’ questionable generosity, those who have yet to see it now have the opportunity, which may be the most favorable way to experience it.
Released in 1990 as an adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s famed novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities was directed by the often-controversial Brian De Palma. With a hefty budget of $47 million, the film flopped spectacularly, managing to earn only $15 million at the worldwide box office. Its critical reception suffered even more, with a paltry 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences rated it slightly higher at 26%. Now that the movie is streaming for free on Warner Bros.’ YouTube channels, one might question whether it deserves a reevaluation.
However, it’s improbable that anyone’s opinion on the film has shifted after 35 years, including those who participated in it, as even they openly express their disdain for the movie they helped create. It’s indeed a rarity for a film to incite such overwhelming negative feedback from its stars, and Bonfire of the Vanities has achieved just that. The film not only starred Hanks and Willis but also featured Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall, Morgan Freeman, Kirsten Dunst, and F. Murray Abraham, and it is noted that many of these actors wish they could erase their involvement in the project. The miscasting of almost every star in the film’s various roles stands out as a major point of criticism.
Over the years, several actors from the film, alongside director De Palma, have offered their disparaging views about the project. Hanks, in particular, referred to the film as “one of the crappiest movies ever made.” This pointed criticism demonstrates the sentiment shared by many involved. In a reflection on his role as Sherman McCoy, Hanks remarked in 2001, “I can go to Germany, even now, and people will say, ‘How come you don’t make good, gritty movies like The Bonfire of the Vanities anymore?’ They have no concept of what it meant to be an American and have that movie enter the national consciousness. When I was playing Sherman McCoy, people stopped me on the street to say, ‘You’re not Sherman McCoy.’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah?’ I was going contrary to everything about the character and even the screenplay, but I kept telling myself, No, no, no — there’s a way I can get into this.”
Bruce Willis was no kinder in his appraisal of The Bonfire of the Vanities. He described the film as “stillborn, dead before it ever got out of the box.” Adding to this, he commented on how it was criticized even before its release: “They were saying, ‘If we were doing this film, we would cast William Hurt instead of Tom Hanks,’ or whatever. Well, if you were doing the film, then that might mean you had some f–king talent and knew how to tell a story instead of writing about what other people are trying to do.”
Even Morgan Freeman, who portrayed Judge Leonard White, shared a scathing assessment of the production. His performance wasn’t deemed among his worst, yet he had his reservations about the project. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Freeman confessed, “I knew that movie wasn’t going to work. I don’t think Brian De Palma had a clue. Originally, they hired Alan Arkin to play my role. I thought that was perfect casting. But then they thought they had to be politically correct and make the judge Black. So they fired Alan Arkin and hired me. Not a great way to get a role.”
There remains a small group of individuals who praised The Bonfire of the Vanities, who can now revisit the film on YouTube to see if it lives up to their original positive assessment. For the majority, however, the decision now is whether to endure the task of watching a film that is statistically inclined to disappoint. Its long shadow echoes in the realm of film history, leaving Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks to look back on a project that many wish had never come to fruition.
