Breaking the Rules (film)

Breaking the Rules (also known as Sketches) is a 1992 American drama film directed by Neal Israel, executive produced by Larry A. Thompson, starring Jason Bateman, C. Thomas Howell, Jonathan Silverman and Annie Potts. Jason's father, Kent Bateman, has a role in the movie as well.

Plot
Phil (Jason Bateman) is a cancer-stricken man who tricks his two best friends, Gene (C. Thomas Howell) and Rob (Jonathan Silverman), whom he hasn't seen in a long time, to go on a road trip, by inviting them to a fake engagement party. This has the potential for problems because Gene once stole Rob's girlfriend. Phil gets them to be friends again. He tells them of his illness and all three decide to go to Los Angeles for Phil's dying wish: to be a contestant on Jeopardy! On the way there they meet an attractive wild woman with a heart of gold (Annie Potts).

Cast

 * Jason Bateman as Phil Stepler
 * Shawn Phelan as Young Phil Stepler
 * C. Thomas Howell as Gene Michaels
 * Jackey Vinson as Young Gene Michaels
 * Jonathan Silverman as Rob Konigsberg
 * Marty Belafsky as Young Rob Konigsberg
 * Annie Potts as Mary Klinglitch
 * Kent Bateman as Mr. Stepler
 * Krista Tesreau as Rob's Date
 * Frank Welker as Special Vocal Effects
 * Paul Cobb as distressed and snappily dressed funeral attendee
 * Angelbertha Cobb as the mourning widow funeral attendee

Reception
Roger Ebert savaged the film in his contemporary review, damning its inauthentic script wherein "one appalling scene follows another". In an exasperated tone, he asked: "Was there no one to cry out, Stop this madness? No one to read the script and see that it was without sense or sensibility? No one to listen to the dialogue and observe that nobody in the world ever talked like this?"