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Read the Book! 23 Disappointing Movie Adaptations

THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES (1990)
The Tom Wolfe novel was an intelligent, potent character study of the Wall Street types, racism, and social hierarchy of New York City in the '80s. So how do you whittle down 500-plus pages of a book for the big screen? You don't. The Brian de Palma-directed movie, costarring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, John Hancock, and Saul Rubinek as the four interweaving characters, lacked Wolfe's complexity and introspection.