THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1994 Ben Hoffman
Everyone has heard of Kellogg's Corn Flakes and almost everyone has heard of its home, Battle Creek, Michigan. But how many knew that John Harvey Kellogg was also a a doctor, a surgeon, inventor, owner of a spa and a crusader for "biological living?" Not only did he invent corn flakes but he also invented peanut butter and the electric blanket. Aside from that, he was a flamboyant flake.
Some of his proclamations are, to say the least, very much out of the mainstream of medicine. "The liver is the only thing standing between the smoker and death. Sex is the sewer drain of a healthy body." As a strict practitioner of vegetarianism he would often tell his audience at San (Sanitarium) that "My own stools are gigantic and have no more odor than a hot biscuit. An erection is a flagpole on your grave."
Will Lightbody (Matthew Broderick) who has been feeling sickly (he is not getting enough sex) is induced by his wife, Eleanor (Bridget Fonda), to come to the San for a cure. She, herself, has been there several times and it had, she says, done wonders for her. Hardly has Will been introduced to Dr Kellogg when he is whisked away to be cleansed with a series of enemas.
By this time the comedy is beginning to lose its humor, sinking more and more into childish nonsense. With a little more taste and discretion it could have been an interesting tale about Kellogg. It does have a fine cast. Anthony Hopkins as Kellogg, carrying his role with complete abandon, is aided by John Cusack, Dana Carvey, Michael Lerner as well as Fonda and Broderick and a host of others but to no avail. Director Alan Parker unfortunately did not know when to lay off the dung and get on with the main story. Too bad.
2 bytes 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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