Roger Ebert’s Brutal Takedown of a 1992 Comedy Flop

When it comes to the world of cinema, few genres divide opinion quite like comedy. What leaves one person in stitches may leave another entirely unmoved. Yet, every so often, a so-called comic adventure manages to unite critics in disbelief—none more so than the 1992 release, Breaking the Rules. Roger Ebert, never one to mince his words, found himself so unimpressed that he refused to award it even a single star.

For Ebert, the quickest route to a damning review was a film that relied on crude, tasteless humour rather than clever wit. He was hardly averse to laughter, but he drew the line at jokes that seemed designed purely to shock or disgust. The challenge of blending comedy with tragedy is not insurmountable; several films have managed to find genuine warmth and humour in the bleakest of circumstances. Titles such as The Bucket List, 50/50, Funny People, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl have all struck that delicate balance at times.

Terminal Illness and Failed Comedy

In the case of Breaking the Rules, however, Ebert felt that the necessary ingredients were sorely lacking. The film, directed by Neal Israel, follows Phil—played by a young Jason Bateman—who, upon learning he has only a month to live, tricks his closest friends into joining him on a cross-country journey. His dying wish? To appear as a contestant on the quiz show Jeopardy! What follows is a series of misadventures, strained friendships, and romantic entanglements, none of which, in Ebert’s view, managed to elicit the intended emotional response.

He wasted no time in making his feelings clear, writing,

“Breaking the Rules is a film about a guy who finds out he has a month to live, and decides to spend it in the worst buddy movie ever made. The movie has to be seen to be believed. It is a long, painful lapse of taste, tone, and ordinary human feeling.”

“A Painful Lapse of Taste and Tone”

The plot, while hardly revolutionary, might have offered some potential for heartfelt moments or sharp humour. Instead, Ebert was left wondering if the film’s creators had any grasp of human emotion at all. He quipped,

“Perhaps it was made by beings from another planet, who were able to watch our television in order to absorb key concepts such as cars, sex, leukaemia, and casinos, but formed an imperfect view of how to fit them together.”

For Ebert, the film’s greatest failing was its inability to generate any genuine feeling. Scenes intended to tug at the heartstrings instead prompted only disbelief at the clumsy dialogue. As he put it,

“The kind of movie where a scene is intended to make you cry, but you’re not crying, you’re wondering just how bad the dialogue can possibly be.”

Box Office Disaster

In the end, Ebert’s scathing assessment proved prophetic. Breaking the Rules struggled to attract audiences, managing to claw back a mere fraction of its production costs. If nothing else, its commercial failure spared many from having to endure what Ebert described as a truly excruciating experience.