YMMV / The Bonfire of the Vanities

• Hard-to-Adapt Work: Wolfe's novel satirizes the excesses and social dynamics of 1980s New York City. Adapting the social commentary, sharp wit, and the exploration of themes such as race and class while navigating the cultural shifts since the novel's publication presents challenges for filmmakers.
• Jerkass Woobie: Sherman McCoy, an admittedly arrogant yuppie who is nonetheless unfairly cast as the rich white villain of a racially charged tabloid melodrama.
• Questionable Casting: Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy and Bruce Willis as Peter Fallow. To say nothing of Saul Rubinek as ADA Kramer. Or Melanie Griffith as Maria Ruskin. Or, really, the whole cast. In defense of Tom Hanks, the film came out around the time that Hanks had still not been codified as the go-to big-name actor who only plays nice guys. Also, Griffith would later go on to play bitches in sheep's clothing (see Cecil B. Demented for instance). So her playing Maria actually worked.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • A young Kirsten Dunst plays Campbell McCoy, Sherman’s daughter.
  • Beth Broderick would become far better known as Aunt Zelda in Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

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