mtckoch Bright Lights,Big City is one of Michael J. Fox's better dramatic films, in my opinion. Why? Because we gradually see that while his character,Jamie Conway, seems to be holding it together, he is dying on the inside. We start out at last call at a nightclub, where we learn Jamie's wife left him to model in Paris. As time goes on, we see Jamie fall apart, losing his job, dignity, and nearly his sanity in a desperate, hopeless attempt to keep up appearances and fool everyone around him,and himself, into believing everything is alright. The disjointed feel, repetitive flashbacks, and haunted tone of his actions show the viewer that this is a man who seriously needs help to get out of the hell his life has become. Although it might like this was excessive in response to his wife leaving, in the end, we find out what started all this:his mother's long illness and death. She had died a year before, and the drugs, booze, and work fixation had been Jamie's, destructive, way of denying his pain and grief. I will admit this is a hard movie to watch. However, Fox's portrayal of the dark side of the fast lane and self destruction is excellent. As someone who has lost a parent young, I can say it realistically depicts the true damage that grieving can cause, especially when denied for so long. If you want to see Michael J. Fox in a serious movie, watch this.

tonyblass It's easy to hate Michael J. Fox's "Gee Whiz Doc! I dropped the coke in the toilet!" performance but please consider all the other serious contenders for movie moronistocracy here. Keifer is SUPPOSED to be playing a successful, EDUCATED (if decadent) Ivy league Preppie, not a scuzzy New Jersey druggie. His accent veers wildly from Brooklyn Paluka to Malibu surfer. Frances Sternhagen spits out every line with the a cartoonish venom of a spinster schoolmarm and Swoozy Kurtz is positively motherly as his long-suffering, over-concerned colleague (who he makes a pass at in the book but here she seems to be more interested than he is for presumably obvious reasons). Jason Robards makes a wasted (and I do mean wasted) cameo as a slurry by-the-numbers drunk. Even John Houseman looks disoriented and uncomfortable in his role as the boss editor. But the worst is Fox's real-life wife Tracy Pollan. Supposed to be the bookish, intellectual cousin of Sutherland's character, she is a blonde bobblehead indistinguishable from the other blonde bobbleheads who populate the nightclub scenes. The only thing remotely watchable in this movie (mesmerizing actually) is Fox's hand. He rubs his face, bites his nail, scratches his chin and when it gets wrapped it a bandage following a ferret bite (! don't ask), then the hand really starts working overtime. At least it helps pass the 2 hours because there is nothing else going on in this star-studded fiasco. And yes, the book is brilliant. Go read the book instead.

fateslieutenant A lot of the scenes take place in nightclub restrooms and other bathrooms. This is where the characters snort their coke, and stare at their own disappointed faces. What's remarkable for NYC in the 80s (in any decade, really) is that every single toilet stall and urinal is fantastically clean. I take this as a symbol for the movie as a whole - all rather sanitized. It's not bad, but the plot falls off rather suddenly at the end. Some viewers might not notice, of course, since nothing was ever that worrying, in any case: it's all too well-scrubbed. All the main character ever has to do to fix things is tell his friends he's going to go home and get a good night's sleep. It's hard on a movie when the big question is "will he nap, or won't he?"

highwaytourist There are two things that went wrong with this film. First and foremost is that Michael J. Fox is totally miscast for his role. I can understand him wanting to break away from the Alex Keaton character on "Family Ties." But, although he tries, he simply isn't right as a coke-addled, anguished writer. And it knocks the whole film off-kilter. Another problem is that the story doesn't translate easily onto film. There are some compensations- great supporting cast, catchy theme song ("Kiss & Tell" by Bryan Ferry), and excellent use of New York City locations. But they weren't enough to make the film a success, and the disappointing returns at the box office bear this out.