The Road to Wellville

When I saw this movie years ago in the theater, I hated it. I just watched it again (2002) and loved it. It has several laugh out loud jokes and is a running smirk movie. If you've ever had any experience with alternative meds - you'll love it to. It is so self effacing it is wonderful. Don't expect The Godfather cinema type and you won't be disappointed. It is wonderful to see Hopkins & Broderick playing it straight.

Kudos.

I also can not fathom the low rating. One of only a small handful of comedies that I will watch repeatedly. As other reviewers have said, George young and old is great. It's a superb ensemble though. Hopkins performance as Dr. Kellogg easily rivals Dr. Lecter. For me Cusack's second best work. Colm Meaney's best without a doubt. Camryn Manheim's small but pivotal role always brings on a smile:)

I only gave it 9 stars, but that's because I'm a tough critic. It's a spectacularly good movie. It just isn't at that stratospheric ten level. IE Star Wars IV combined with being seven years old, or Clerks. If you haven't seen it yet, do so.

RTW is by all means a very funny movie. Sure, one can find it disgusting in some details, but it is nothing more than a point of view. On the formal side, you cannot say much against it: it has an excellent cast, superb costumes and buildings, it almost captured this long gone time. And, by the way, these stupid gadgets and therapies, they were real, they didn´t invent anything. OK, the story could be a little bit straighter, but thats all. Otherwise, RTW is holding a mirror for the health and fitness obsession of our times and one should be able to laugh about that too. All in all a good one. I´m sorry for those, who cannot like it because of their prudery, rest of you just try to watch a little bit more open - minded.

Battle Creek, Michigan is hometown to me and several generations of my family. So, maybe I appreciated 'The Road to Wellville' more than most. After all, anyone living in Battle Creek either works for the Kellogg Company or is close to someone who does. Kellogg's and Post cereal companies have affected nearly every level of Battle Creek's evolution for 100 years or more.

The great cereal boom of the early 1900s is still talked about today. And tales of the legendary Dr. Harvey Kellogg (artfully played by Anthony Hopkins), Seventh Day Adventists, and the famous (or infamous) Battle Creek 'San' are fondly retold by some of the town's elder residents. The health regimens practiced at the B.C. Sanitarium led to a host of other health-related businesses in Battle Creek which made everything from dubious exercise equipment to nearly tasteless all-veggie soybean burgers.

This film is a lively, tongue-in-cheek rendition of the intriguing story about an era when entrepreneurship in the U.S. was at its peak. The cast, featuring Matthew Broderick, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda and Dana Carvey, is excellent and the humor as wacky as it gets.

Bon appetit!

I just can't believe the comments I read here. Pure crap? Come on! One of the worst films ever? Pah!

This film is good, well written, well directed, and really funny. What else can I say? It seems like whenever a film with real humour is made by a well-known director, it's viewed as bullsh...! While plain stupid comedies (Pretty Woman etc..) are praised by many, elegant and clever ones like "Road to Welville" are considered as crap... I just can't believe it.

I feel saddened that such a good work is being flamed. Maybe it's because it didn't reach its public... Or that the whole purpose of the film is being missed by the majority of the public... Or that people think Parker should only make serious movies... I don't know.

It's not the first time I'm so deeply amazed by the way a film is perceived by others, but gee...