Just what I expected

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The Road to WellvilleThe key to getting fit is wearing athletic apparel everywhere you go in public.Others, like those in this dramedy, maintain exercise and diet is the key.Breakfast cereal magnate Dr. Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins) operates a wellness center in the Michigan woods where the world's wealthiest (Matthew Broderick, Bridget Fonda) come for treatment for an assortment of ailments.Surprisingly, most of the cures come from sexual and business liaisons with a hodgepodge of eccentrics (Lara Flynn Boyle, John Cusack, Dana Carvey) instead of coming from Kellogg's brand of abstinence and colon cleansing.But it's those extracurricular activities that threaten the retreat's existence. A star-studded affair that was both a critical and financial flop, this perverted depiction of Kellogg's clean living criteria from 1994 is more lecherous than humorous. And that includes Hopkins' cringe worthy turn as the cornflake maker. Besides, who wants to swim in a pool full of milk?Red Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

I just had to comment on this movie having seen the rating. There must be cohort of reviewers here without a sense of humor. If you have to explain a joke to someone you've already lost. This was a movie I originally saw on a whim, and I thought it was just hilarious. I'm in the medical profession and really enjoyed to jabs it took at the medicine of the time. I'm sure in 50 years we'll be doing the same thing to all the health crocks we see today. Actually, things probably haven't changed that much. This movie would appeal most to people who like slapstick off-beat comedies. It is well acted and written, fast paced, and just a pleasure. When I have to recommend a sleeper comedy that I think has been overlooked this one is on my short list.

A thoroughly appalling "comedy" detailing the wacky misadventures at an early 20th century health farm run by bizarre cereal magnate Dr. John Kellogg. Purportedly based on real events, one is hard-pressed to find much to laugh about in this over-long and criminally unfunny film. Anthony Hopkins, sporting buck teeth, has been drafted to play the nutty Kellogg. The events at the health farm largely unfold through the eyes of newly converted health maven Bridget Fonda and her less enthused husband Matthew Broderick, who is dragged along to have his system cleared of impurities.It is open for debate how much on screen is indeed factual, but it is certainly not open for debate how such a debacle could have been conceived with the talent involved. Director Alan Parker is responsible for some of our best dramas, including Midnight Express and Mississippi Burning. The cast is stocked with familiar faces, who have had far better days elsewhere. The humor is almost completely one-sided in scatological references and bodily functions - if you think the idea of someone getting a yogurt enema is the height of hilarity, then this is definitely the film for you. The film is also awash in gratuitous nudity, but no amount of eye candy (and much of it would not qualify for that description) can distract from the film's glaring shortcomings.Hopkins throws himself into the role of Kellogg, but it is little more than a cartoon character. Fonda alternates between nagging and dishrag in a dreadfully uninteresting role. Broderick fares best from the cast, largely because he is playing the only semi-developed character and the only one remotely normal or sympathetic. It is also a pleasant surprise how enticing he looks when naked - that close-up on the vibrating platform was a real eye-opener. John Cusack is on hand, but why is anyone's guess. His subplot - playing a nephew of one of Kellogg's patients involved in a shady scheme - goes no where and takes up too much screen time. Ditto, Dana Carvey as Kellogg's deranged son. Both subplots could have been completely excised from the film without anyone noticing and making the proceedings blessedly shorter. Camryn Manheim is light years beyond obnoxious as Fonda's confidante at the health farm.Truly there is literally nothing that works in this film. There is nary a chuckle to be found in its morass of jokes on poop, enemas, flatulence and body fluids. At the end, the question lingers as to how so many talented people ended up in this mess?

I have come to realize that my sense of humor is very much out of sync with mainstream film tastes. Frequently, I have seen a comedy that leaves me in hysterics, only to discover that it is loathed by the mainstream media and masses alike. "The Road To Wellville" is one of these films.When I first saw "The Road To Wellville" on Cinemax in the mid-nineties, I could not believe just how much crass and bawdy humor was packed into this film, and I could not stop laughing. Up to that time, I could not recall any other film so unashamedly filled with scatological references. I especially enjoyed the great Anthony Hopkins voicing the eccentric views of Dr. John Kellogg while defining a very strange but memorable character.Of course, the critics panned this film for the very reasons I initially loved it. Seeing it again, I can understand their revulsion. While the film is packed with many hilariously tasteless gags, the overall story is very erratic. The main plot involving Matthew Broderick's bizarre medical treatments is rather entertaining, but John Cusack's subplot is neither very funny nor well-written. By the three-quarters mark, the film loses momentum and becomes just another tedious romantic comedy. Such a shame, considering the outrageously satirical nature of the first few acts of this film. The laughs are there, but the story is not.