ThiefHott Too much of everything

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

a-p-bcvgmrssv I recently D.V.R.'d "Bright Lights, Big City," to once-and-for-all give it a real chance. Over the years, I've caught clips of it, but never really saw and/or appreciated it. So, since it's been on T.V. a bit more these days, I decided to D.V.R. it while I still had the chance. I wasn't disappointed, I am a life-long Michael J. Fox fan, and I was glad to have the chance to see one of his more serious post-"Family Ties," "Back to the Future," roles of the '80's. He was real good in his poignant, compelling and touching role as a talented, successful, but troubled and misguided young man dealing with two recent major blows in his life: The death of his beloved mother (A situation I can personally relate to), and his break-up with his beautiful, talented, aspiring model wife. There were parts that were of course depressing and sad, but there were witty, funny, and introspective parts that made this film well worth a try. OH, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT HERE, READ OVER TO END: One main point of this film that deserves true credit is that it didn't go with a truly depressing and downbeat ending; Fox's character really faced reality and decided to go on the right, better-guided path for a change. "Bright Lights, Big City," in my humble opinion, is NO "Back to the Future," by any means, but it did it's job well with story-telling and acting. Kudos to the movie and Michael J.

videorama-759-859391 This is one of my favourite Michael J Fox movies. We really get to see him in a dramatic role, though I hadn't bothered with that turkey, Light Of Day. This refreshingly original film was something totally different totally for me, a hard hitting drama that plays well on screen, though it might of not had the impact, the novel intended. An R rating slapped on, as a few were back in the day, supposedly for drug use, like Fox's bleeding nostril when he does too much coke, didn't make much sense. We see two hot women kissing in a cubicle, when Jamie (Fox) walks in then quickly retreats, spouting a funny response of dialogue, in that great comic timing of his. Could this be another reason. Whatever it is, nothing should of stopped people under 18 from seeing this. Jamie Conway's life is a mess, which he refuses to acknowledge. The first anniversary of his mother's passing is coming up. His beautiful model girlfriend (Cates-really) a heartless b..ch has reappeared in his life, choosing a career over a sunken Jamie. His prim and demanding boss, an editor of a magazine, an old hag, is pushing him to finish an article, where he'd rather be doing drugs, or trying to write that aspiring never to published novel. Also little brother has just popped into town. As an anti drug movie, this one works well. In the face of mishap, loss, whatever, drugs are not the solution, and it doesn't help when you're swayed by slime bag friends. Fox does well, though he's not great. Though really, he's never been as good an actor as people have been led to believe. Shining performances comes from Cates and Sutherland. Robards was fun to watch too, and Wiest was great as always, as Fox's mother, seen in flashbacks, that we're a bit heavily laid on. BLBC is an engrossing, if intriguing drama about young 80's New Yorkers, and the drug and disco scene, and we can't forget the coma baby. The scene with Fox again confronting Cates who says to him in casual tone, "How are ya?" where Fox is just thunderstruck, and crashes back against a transvestite, is probably one of three memorable moments. But Fox fan should like it. Well made drama, that should be viewed time and time again, even for under 18's.

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?"