'Breaking the Rules' had the potential to be a much better film than it actually was. The cast alone--Bateman, Howell, Silverman, and Potts--might be what lures many to this film so many years after its release. The story, too, of the invincible road trip which inevitably leads to self-discovery among three friends who must sort out their differences and come to terms with one of them dying from an inoperable cancer. But the plot soon becomes one of an overachiever dramedy once it moves beyond reasonable bounds of the sentimental childhood friends story and tries to be too much all at once. I find the backstory (and later, the cheesy music performances that remind me of the 'Zack Attack' show from Saved by the Bell) about the desired career path to music particularly annoying. Not to mention Howell's once-again rather wooden acting as he tries to force this attitude of anger at his friend's sometimes idiotic ideas for adventure before he dies.
Bateman, Silverman, and Howell play three childhood friends who part ways after college. After having surprisingly ditched college just a month shy of graduation despite his genius appeal, Bateman's character, Phil, calls the boys home to Ohio with word of his engagement. It's also an attempt to establish a truce between two of the friends--Gene (C. Thomas Howell) and Rob (Jonathan Silverman).
When they find out that the engagement is a scam and that Phil actually has been diagnosed with a terminal cancer, the boys head off to California where Phil intends to audition for Jeopardy. Along the way, of course, they have the usual ill-bode road trip of self-discovery with the friends struggling to come to terms with the fact that Phil is dying. This leads to both good times and bad. And, in particular, along the way, they meet Mary, a small-town waitress (played by the excellent Annie Potts) who is somewhat the neutral force among all of them (and eventually even the bitter Gene).
It's not bad and had the writers at least tried to avoid its overachiever moments, it would not have been a great comedy, but at least some moments would not have been so cheesy. Nonetheless, I would recommend this one for fans of the cast. Jonathan Silverman sticks to his shtick in this one, and resembles his love-desperate character, Appleby, in Stealing Home.
Bateman, Silverman, and Howell play three childhood friends who part ways after college. After having surprisingly ditched college just a month shy of graduation despite his genius appeal, Bateman's character, Phil, calls the boys home to Ohio with word of his engagement. It's also an attempt to establish a truce between two of the friends--Gene (C. Thomas Howell) and Rob (Jonathan Silverman).
When they find out that the engagement is a scam and that Phil actually has been diagnosed with a terminal cancer, the boys head off to California where Phil intends to audition for Jeopardy. Along the way, of course, they have the usual ill-bode road trip of self-discovery with the friends struggling to come to terms with the fact that Phil is dying. This leads to both good times and bad. And, in particular, along the way, they meet Mary, a small-town waitress (played by the excellent Annie Potts) who is somewhat the neutral force among all of them (and eventually even the bitter Gene).
It's not bad and had the writers at least tried to avoid its overachiever moments, it would not have been a great comedy, but at least some moments would not have been so cheesy. Nonetheless, I would recommend this one for fans of the cast. Jonathan Silverman sticks to his shtick in this one, and resembles his love-desperate character, Appleby, in Stealing Home.