It is a tough study of what it means for the three main characters – WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish Assistant District Attorney Larry Kramer, and the expatriate British journalist Peter Fallow – to be consumed by the modern ‘vanities’ of ambition, class, greed, politics and race. Wolfe’s (originally serialized) novel is set in 1980s New York City. It’s sad – at times, embarrassing – when what is meant as a celebration becomes the opposite a portrait rejected by the sitter, a meal for friends under-cooked, a Christmas gift despised, a good book spoiled by a poor film. But can we – or, better, should we – read more in the public’s reaction? I suggest we might. Images can be a poor substitute for imagination. It’s not the first time – and will certainly not be the last – a good book has made a bad film. Despite its best-selling literary source, satirical humour, and star-studded cast (including Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall and Morgan Freeman), the film was a commercial flop, grossing $15m. 1940) film adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s novel The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987). When it was released in 1990, critics panned Brian de Palma’s (b.
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