California Dream

Breaking the Rules was one of those films that slipped in and out of theaters before it could develop a following. If it were not for video I think very few would have seen it and that would have been a pity.

Three childhood chums have gone their separate ways. In fact two of them are downright hostile to each other. The third, Jason Bateman, succeeds in bringing the other two to some kind of a truce and all three take an automobile trip out west. Bateman feels compelled to do it, he's under a deadline literally. He's got a rare and rapidly growing form of leukemia and has little time left.

C. Thomas Howell and Jonathan Silverman play the other two friends, but it's Jason Bateman's touching performance as their dying chum that really drives the film.

Bateman's career was in limbo at the time. He had left The Hogan Family and it would be many years before he got another break in Arrested Development. Had this film been better promoted he might have been doing better a whole lot sooner.

Annie Potts plays the waitress all three pick up on their way to California and she scores well in her role. But it's really a triple buddy picture with a tragic twist.

Catch it if you can when it's broadcast.

"Sketches" (aka "Breaking all rules") was a 80's dramedy that was shot in 1989 but not released until 1992, where it played in a limited release before fading into obscurity. Neither title really makes sense though.

I remember catching parts of it on TV at night in the late 90's. I recently watched the film and I was pleasantly surprised at how well crafted and touching the performances are. "Sketches" deals with the devastating issue of cancer and how 3 friends confront and cope with the disease by going on a road trip. The film is as touching as it humorous. A touch balance the direct seems to pull off. C. Thomas Howell (too bad his career tanked after the classic underrated "Soul Man") and Johnathan Silverman are good in their roles but a young Jason Bateman easily stills the show as the friend stricken with the disease. I was very impressed with how realistically he portrayed a cancer victim (having seen first hand a relative die from the disease).

Overall, "Sketches" is a funny yet tragic 80's buddy film that manages to balance the laughs with the tears. I just wish there was more info on the making of the film and would love to know why exactly it was shelved for 3 years. This film deserves a bigger audience and more praise. 10/10

"BREAKING THE RULES" has a good cast and a competent storyline that provides an "anything can happen" atmosphere, yet the end result is far from satisfying.

With Neal Israel at the helm, and the talents of Jonathan Silverman, Jason Bateman, C. Thomas Howell and Annie Potts, I expected much more, but the overall feel of the film is that of "un-feeling". Most of the situations are just not funny, and I wish I could care for the plight of these characters, but I didn't.

There are all too many implausibilities that plague the film and take away from it's potential. For example, Howell, Bateman and Silverman have several moments in the film where they "croon" out a few tunes, and their stand-in singing voices are beyond unbelievable, which ultimately distracts the possible fun of these scenes.

This is not a bad film, but it could have been so much better.

On this lazy Sunday afternoon when I should be cleaning my house, I ended up turning on FOX t.v. and this movie was already in progress. Since that's one of the few channels that comes in on my antenna, I just left the t.v. on for company as I made something to eat.

Of course, I recognize the fact that I was missing something by turning on in the middle, and I didn't know what was really going on in the movie for a while. I remember standing in the kitchen hearing the '90s soundtrack running and thinking of how awful '90s movies were in many cases because of that. I returned to the living room to eat and casually watch the movie and thought to myself, "Why on earth did some idiot programming director decide that THIS would be the movie they'd show this afternoon?!" Oh, then I watched further and found out that Phil was dying. And I'm a sucker for the make-you-wanna-cry movies. I'm no sissy; and I've put it together, and realized that movies like this that make you confront someone's impending death help me little by little to find peace about my own mother's death in 2001.

I was so touched by the way this movie dealt with death and friendship, that I went from thinking it was horrible and dumb to thinking it was thoughtful, evocative, sentimental, heartfelt and touching (if not totally realistic). And another thing, I went from finding the dialog utterly '90s-moronic and goofy, to finding it appropriate and well-done. (This was after the middle part of the movie in which it is treated as just another buddies-on-a-trip goofoff.) Other movies may deal with death, and may do it better on occasion, but none of them have the incredibly sympathetic Jason Bateman as the dying person. His character and his portrayal are 90% of what I ended up enjoying about Breaking the Rules.

I saw the movie it was great I think Jonathan Silverman, C. Thomas Howell, Justin Bateman, and Annie Potts did great. It was pretty emotional when Phil (Justin Bateman) was dying. I'm surprised it's not even a cult classic. It would've been nice if they had someone else other than Annie Potts I think she was too old for all three.