The Road To Wellville (1994)

Good health can become an obsession, and a fortune can be made from people desperate to feel better. Alan Parker's comedy "The Road to Wellville," which he adapted from T. Coraghessan Boyle's novel, is set in 1907 at the famous Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, run by the eccentric health crusader and cornflake pioneer Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins, sporting a dazzling set of oversized teeth). Bridget Fonda plays Eleanor Lightbody, one of Kellogg's devoted followers, who drags her skeptical but loving husband, Will (Matthew Broderick), to the lavish spa to cure his ailments and restore their marriage. There they endure bizarre treatments, from strict vegetarian diets and electrified baths to endless yogurt regimens, and are ordered to give up all romance for the sake of their health. The rule proves hard to follow, as Will is tempted by a pretty young nurse (Traci Lind) and a flirtatious fellow patient (Lara Flynn Boyle), while Eleanor falls under the spell of a strange rival doctor's treatments. Meanwhile, a naive young entrepreneur (John Cusack) teams up with a shady con man (Michael Lerner) to cash in on the breakfast cereal craze, and Kellogg's troubled, rebellious adopted son (Dana Carvey) causes chaos for his famous father. It's an offbeat, irreverent look at a real chapter in America's long love affair with health fads, though it drew mixed reviews.