Scotty Bloch

The Bonfire of the Vanities -- A hit-and-run accident in the Bronx prompts a citywide conflict, fueled by ambitious politicians, greedy lawyers and jaded ministers with a wealthy businessman in the center of the controversy.

Today's hottest film stars -- two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks ("Catch Me if You Can," "The Green Mile"), Bruce Willis ("The Sixth Sense," "Die Hard"), and Academy Award-nominee Melanie Griffith ("Working Girl," "Pacific Heights") and Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby," "Unforgiven") -- star in the Brian De Palma ("Mission: Impossible," "Scarface") film based on the #1 bestseller by Tom Wolfe. Co-starring Golden Globe-nominee Kim Cattrall ("Sex and the City"), Alan King ("Casino"), Mary Alice ("I'll Fly Away") and Kirsten Dunst ("Mona Lisa Smile," "Spider-man" 1 & 2 ).

Legendary scientist Albert Einstein (played here by Walter Matthau) takes a break from theoretical physics to try to set up his intellectual niece with a handsome auto mechanic in this romantic comedy. The movie's central conceit is that Einstein's brilliance extends to matters of the heart, allowing him to immediately sense that Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), a bright, lower-class mechanic obsessed with Popular Science Magazine, would be perfect for his niece Catherine (Meg Ryan). Unfortunately, Catherine is already engaged to a stiff Princeton man. In order to defeat Catherine's resistance, Uncle Albert decides to help Ed pretend to be a revolutionary scientist, a charade that inevitably leads to much farcical confusion. Einstein's scientist pals are portrayed as a Greek chorus of Catskills-style kibitzers, featuring such notable perfomers as Lou Jacobi as Kurt Godel and director Gene Saks as Boris Podolsky.

Woody Allen plays Ray Winkler, a low-brow con man who is married to Frenchy (Tracy Ullman), a former stripper. Ray and his buddies concoct a scheme to rob a bank by digging a tunnel from a defunct pizza place next door; as a cover, Frenchy opens a cookie shop in the storefront while Ray and company dig in the back. Ray's burglary is a failure, but Frenchy's cookies are a rousing success, and within a year the store has spawned a nationwide franchise that makes the Winklers rich. However, while Ray wants to move to Miami and bask in the sun, nouveau riche Frenchy now aspires to join high society, with posh art dealer David (Hugh Grant) as her guide.