| name = Breaking the Rules
| name = Breaking the Rules
| alt = <!– see WP:ALT –>
| alt = <!– see WP:ALT –>
| image = Breaking the Rules FilmPoster.jpeg
| image= Breaking the Rules FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption =
| caption =
| director = [[Neal Israel]]
| director = [[Neal Israel]]
| producer = Kent Bateman<br />Jonathan D. Krane
| producer =
Kent Bateman
Jonathan D. Krane
}}
| writer = Paul W. Shapiro
| writer = Paul W. Shapiro
| starring = [[Jason Bateman]]<br />[[C. Thomas Howell]]<br />[[Jonathan Silverman]]<br />[[Annie Potts]]
| starring =
[[Jason Bateman]]
[[C. Thomas Howell]]
[[Jonathan Silverman]]
[[Annie Potts]]
}}
| music = [[David Kitay]]
| music = [[David Kitay]]
| cinematography = James Hayman
| cinematography = James Hayman
}}
}}
””’Breaking the Rules””’ (also known as ”Sketches”)<ref>{{cite web |title=Sketches |url=https://www.amazon.com/Sketches-C-Thomas-Howell/dp/B0B8TTNBXB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3PU2595UPQE7T&keywords=sketches&qid=1697151999&s=instant-video&sprefix=sketches%2Cinstant-video%2C90&sr=1-1 |website=Amazon Prime |access-date=12 October 2023}}</ref> is a 1992 American [[drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[Neal Israel]], executive produced by [[Larry A. Thompson]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103877/fullcredits |title=Breaking the Rules (1992) (TV) – Full cast and crew |website=IMDb.com |date= |access-date=2010-05-20}}</ref> starring [[Jason Bateman]], [[C. Thomas Howell]], [[Jonathan Silverman]] and [[Annie Potts]]. Jason’s father, [[Kent Bateman]], has a role in the movie as well.
””’Breaking the Rules””’ (also known as ”Sketches”)<ref>{{cite web |title=Sketches |url=https://www.amazon.com/Sketches-C-Thomas-Howell/dp/B0B8TTNBXB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3PU2595UPQE7T&keywords=sketches&qid=1697151999&s=instant-video&sprefix=sketches%2Cinstant-video%2C90&sr=1-1 |website=Amazon Prime |access-date=12 October 2023}}</ref> is a 1992 American [[drama film]] directed by [[Neal Israel]], executive produced by [[Larry A. Thompson]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103877/fullcredits |title=Breaking the Rules (1992) (TV) – Full cast and crew |website=IMDb.com |date= |access-date=2010-05-20}}</ref> 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==
==Plot==
==Cast==
==Cast==
* [[Jason Bateman]] as Phil Stepler
* [[Jason Bateman]] as Phil Stepler
** [[Shawn Phelan]] as Young Phil Stepler
** [[Shawn Phelan]] as Phil Stepler
* [[C. Thomas Howell]] as Gene Michaels
* [[C. Thomas Howell]] as Gene Michaels
** Jackey Vinson as Young Gene Michaels
** Jackey Vinson as Gene Michaels
* [[Jonathan Silverman]] as Rob Konigsberg
* [[Jonathan Silverman]] as Rob Konigsberg
** [[Marty Belafsky]] as Young Rob Konigsberg
** [[Marty Belafsky]] as Rob Konigsberg
* [[Annie Potts]] as Mary Klinglitch
* [[Annie Potts]] as Mary Klinglitch
* [[Kent Bateman]] as Mr. Stepler
* [[Kent Bateman]] as Mr. Stepler
[[Category:1992 films]]
[[Category:1992 films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1992 drama films]]
[[Category:1992 drama films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Neal Israel]]
[[Category:Films directed by Neal Israel]]
[[Category:Films scored by David Kitay]]
[[Category:Films scored by David Kitay]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:English-language drama films]]
[[Category:English-language drama films]]
{{1990s-US-drama-film-stub}}
1992 American film
Breaking the Rules (also known as Sketches)[2] is a 1992 American comedy-drama film directed by Neal Israel, executive produced by Larry A. Thompson,[3] starring Jason Bateman, C. Thomas Howell, Jonathan Silverman and Annie Potts. Jason’s father, Kent Bateman, has a role in the movie as well.
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).
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?”[4]
