Breaking The Rules

Phil Stepler (Jason Bateman), a free-spirited college dropout, brings together his childhood best friends--Gene Michaels (C. Thomas Howell), a young Lothario past his prime, and Rob Konigsberg (Jonathan Silverman), an uptight med student with musical ambitions--to their hometown, Cleveland. Formerly songwriting partners, Gene and Rob have been estranged ever since Gene slept with Rob's girlfriend. Phil wants to reconcile his friends, which he manages by confessing his painful secret: he has contracted leukemia, which he hides behind his cheerful disposition. With barely a month left to live, Phil wants his friends to join him in a cross-country trek to Los Angeles, en route to a "Jeopardy!" audition.

In typical road movie fashion, the young men go through numerous small adventures on this trip of their lives. They run into a friendly bear; a beautiful blonde (Krista Kesreau) picks up shy Rob, only to baptize him into her born-again faith; they meet Mary Klingsmith (Annie Potts), a vivacious middle-aged waitress who joins them in their cruise; they witness a sad funeral, which prompts Phil to beg his friends not to mourn his imminent passing; Phil marries Mary in Reno, after which--as a gesture of friendship--he lets Rob sleep with her; finally in California, Phil dies in Mary's arms. Back in Cleveland, Mary takes Gene and Rob away from Phil's funeral, and they watch Phil's videotaped farewell, joining him in a nostalgic singalong.

BREAKING THE RULES aims to be a heart-warming road movie, a bittersweet comedy wherein true friendship triumphs over death. What we get instead is a rich kid's fantasy of "rebelliousness" that's all empty posturing. How revolutionary can you be with a new van and Daddy's American Express card? As for breaking rules, the only "transgressions" are Rob's dissatisfaction with his medical studies, imposed by his father, in favor of his real vocation as a musician (with no indication of his actually leaving medical school after Phil's funeral), Phil's own failed college career--a fait accompli before the whole adventure starts--and his impulsive marriage to an older woman. Rather than rule-breaking, what we have here is nothing more than all-American wish-fulfillment.

Tired cliches abound, from the inevitable reconciliation of strained friends and a doomed but brave terminally ill character to an utterly condescending view of womanhood. Rob's "date" is a zombified born-again Christian, portrayed as a calculating fanatic out to lure hot-blooded boys into her cult. Mary is inexplicably enchanted with these "wild and crazy" youths, readily agreeing to leave her town, marry the dying Phil and bed bashful Rob.

The cast of minor heartthrobs is energetic, but does very little acting. As the dour Gene, C. Thomas Howell (THE HITCHER, SOUL MAN) maintains a sour disposition throughout the movie, his smile resembling a grotesque mask. Jonathan Silverman (BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS, WEEKEND AT BERNIES) portrays Rob as a big baby, giggling nervously in the presence of women and whining about his frustrated musical aspirations. Jason Bateman (TEEN WOLF TOO, TV's "The Hogan Family") shows just how superficial his acting talent is, overdoing Phil's happy facade and failing to make his agonies credible. Poor Annie Potts (GHOSTBUSTERS, TV's "Designing Women") has yet another wretched film role as Mary, the mature woman who plays second banana to three vapid young men.

BREAKING THE RULES could be seen as a metaphor, courtesy of producer Kent Bateman, for his son Jason's own dying career: just as Phil is racing against time to fulfill his aspirations, Bateman fils must've hoped to rescue his faltering career. With another bomb--it failed miserably at the box office--Bateman's career could be headed for Phil's fate. BREAKING THE RULES is a forgettable, clumsy movie, its appeal limited to the leading actors' fan clubs. leave a comment