THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE
A film review by Eric Grossman
Copyright LOS ANGELES INDEPENDENT 1994
Here is a new topic for a talk show: why good filmmakers make the wrong movies. Alan Parker, a very talented director who is responsible for such films as BUGSY MALONE, ANGEL HEART and THE COMMITMENTS, should be the headlining guest so we can ask what possessed him to make THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE.
I'm sure it looked good on paper. Based on T. C. Boyle's novel and adapted by Parker, THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE takes place at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of the corn flake and peanut butter, has developed innumerable, bizarre and mostly quack methods to improve one's health. As played by Anthony Hopkins, Kellogg looks like a buck-toothed Teddy Roosevelt and to say he has an anal fixation would be a gross understatement. A sample piece of Kellogg's dialogue. "My own stools, Sir, are gigantic, and have no more odor than a hot biscuit." How you feel about that line will probably give you an idea of whether or not you will like THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE. Hopkins is good in his role as Kellogg, but despite the outrageousness of the part, this will not be one of his most memorable characters.
Bridget Fonda and Matthew Broderick also turn in decent but forgettable performances as Eleanor and Will Lightbody, a couple who go to the "San" to help save their marriage. Will, who has a bad stomach, is the film's guinea pig as he goes from one awful treatment to the next. Yogurt enemas, bath's with electric current running through them, and intestinal surgery are just a few of the treats Kellogg has in store to cure poor Will.
John Cusack plays Charles Ossining, a young entrepreneur who has taken his aunt's money to start his own corn flake company. Problems arise, however, when his business partner, Goodloe Bender (Michael Lerner) turns out to be a con-man. This subplot is completely unnecessary to the film and slows it down.
To round out the cast, Dana Carvey plays the mischievous George Kellogg, one of Dr. Kellogg's forty-two children. Some of the film's best moments are the flashbacks of young George and his father. For no apparent reason, George continually defies his father, driving the household crazy. Finally, Dr. Kellogg begs George to stop, which he does, by dropping his coat on the floor.
If it were not for these types of moments, THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE would have been mostly intolerable. The other saving grace is the captivating time period. Production designer Brian Morris and costumer Penny Rose re-create turn of the century America with enough detail to make us feel we are there. We don't have time machines but this will do for now. The lighting by Peter Biziou and Gerry Hambling's editing are top-notch, making this a film of the highest production value. Parker's direction is as sharp as ever, however, his screenplay drags and fails to pay off in a gratifying manner.
The final redeeming attribute is the cinematic documentation of the erroneous philosophies for good health in the early part of this century. When these absurd treatments are performed before our eyes, we cringe with the thought of how the people of the time could have been so foolish. Then again, just recently, there was a book published that dealt with the benefits of drinking one's urine. Perhaps in the next century, someone will make a movie showing how ludicrous many of our current techniques for better health actually are. I hope it is better than this film.
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