The Secret of My Success

I cannot remember the first time i saw this film - it was that long ago! This is definitely Michael J. Fox at his best! I'm sure anyone reading this knows the story etc and are probably reminiscing themselves and seeing if others like it too. Well I do! From the initial set up with Mike moving to the big city to the predictable but great ending, this movie just oozes class. People can criticize it for continuity, holes in the plot etc, but this remains one of my favorite movies. It's got good cinematography, some great songs and really makes me feel good after probably twenty plus viewings. I wish i was older (20 writing this) and lived the 80s first hand, rather than through its movies and music because it was a great decade! If you are a Fox fan or looking for a fun film to fill a couple of hours, you cannot go wrong with this. And while you are at it, pick up Teen Wolf and Poison Ivy - if you can find them!

This confluence of dumb ideas emanating from one person was supposed to be a good movie. I think people only watched it because Michael J. Fox was in it. I know that was my reason. Much like Clark Kent, Brantley Foster (MJ Fox) leaves Kansas for N. Y. to work. Brantley wants to be a successful businessman. He gets hired in the mail room by his uncle Howard Prescott (Richard Jordan). Somewhere along the line Brantley ends up having sex with his uncle's wife, pretends to be an exec in the company named Whitfield which gives him access to having sex with the CFO, and all of this led to this Amos and Andrew type scenario where he played two roles and tried to stay a step ahead of being figured out. The whole premise was silly and exhausting. This movie never got off the ground. Sex was the pervasive theme and they threw in a little corporate jargon for credibility. They were a couple of * and cuss words short of making it rated R. Going back to the Superman parallel, Brantley ends up saving the day. The company he worked for was leaking oil and on its way to being taken over unless they could come up with a savvy way of saving it. Naturally, it ended with Brantley saving the company and getting the girl--as if there was a doubt. All's well that ends well in the world of lying, cheating, and sleeping around.

Okay, Michael J. Fox stars as a Midwestern college graduate who moves to New York City to conquer the business world. He is completely unprepared as Brantley Foster. He is so desperate that he contacts a distant cousin, Richard Prescott, for help breaking in to the business world of New York City. Along the way, he meets his aunt Vera Prescott, played by the delicious Margaret Whitton who really steals the show in this role. He also falls in love with Christy Wills who works there and is played admirably by Helen Slater. John Pankow plays the guy in the mail room who helps Brantley. The cast is first rate but the writing is somewhat mediocre material. It's a good entertainment with a first rate cast and the scenes in the country are quite beautiful.

Brantley Foster (Michael J,Fox) is from Kansas, wanting to better himself in the big wide world he hits New York hoping to make it big. However, landing a job in the big apple isn't as easy as he had thought. So turning to a tycoon uncle he literally doesn't know, he lands a job the mail room!. From where Brantley leads a double life as he creates Carlton Whitfield and sets about bluffing his way to the top and into the heart of sexy executive Christy Wills (Helen Slater). Michael J. Fox is on cracking comedy form as the young hero of this 1980s light comedy. It's the sort of 80s film that has managed to break out of that decade and still be enjoyable in this latest, power driven, age. The formula is safe and plays out as expected, and the soundtrack, including notable movie riffs, adds to the high sense of energetic fun on offer. Wafer thin plot be damned, Fox delivers on the star vehicle promise and he in turn is backed up by a smashing turn from Margaret Whitton. Silly, unadulterated fun it be. 7/10

Huge box-office hit for star Michael J. Fox is really just an extension of his role on TV's "Family Ties"...and maybe that's all his fans wanted (after all, Fox's dramatic performance from earlier in the year with "Light of Day" was outright ignored). Under the ridiculously yuppie-fied character name of Brantley Foster, Fox plays a Midwestern kid with a degree in finance who relocates to the Big Apple but finds himself stuck in the mailroom of his uncle's corporation; with some light deception, our hero climbs the ranks of success, eventually attracting the eye of his uncle's wanton wife--the daughter of the corporation's founder. This may be the worst movie Herbert Ross ever directed. With a shallow screenplay worked on by three writers, "Secret" raises a few laughs early on before becoming a dated 'corporate satire' which doesn't even look good. Helen Slater's potential love-interest suits Fox well, but her character's indignation is pure formula, as is the "Graduate"-like subplot underscored by Yello's obnoxious "Oh Yeah!" *1/2 from ****

What sets this movie apart from standard sitcom material are the acting performances, tight scripting, funny sight gags, and great musical score. If you liked Michael J. Fox in "Back to the Future," you'll love him in this role. Much like BTTF, this is not a film to take seriously, but to enjoy it for what it is. Which is a film that I can watch 100 times and never get bored of it.

The Secret of my Success is one of my all time favorite movies. Michael J. Fox and Helen Slater look very well together and I know no one else could have played in the movie and looked that good. They played their parts extremely well and I would recommend this movie to anyone looking for a (romantic) comedy. I wish that the directors would have done a sequel because I just couldn't get enough. I absolutely love this movie and I have to watch it every time I see it on TV. My 6 year old daughter really gets into the movie as well and says that she absolutely loves the movie also. It is a great family film. Michael J. Fox is just a wonderful actor and Helen Slater is great. I wish that they would have done more films like this one and with these two specific movie stars.

Very funny at times, serious at others... "The Secret Of My Success" starring Michael J. Fox is one of my all time favorite movies! J. Fox's acting is right on, and the other actors are great too! Fox plays two characters in this film; Brantley Foster and the *made up* Carlton Whitfield. Brantley comes to New York with the hopes of getting a successful business career. He eventually gets a job - as a postal boy! From that point, LOTSA weird things happen as he makes up an identity ('Carlton Whitfield') to get in touch with the other "SUITS" (business men), and to find out more about this beautiful girl that he saw the other day. The character Melrose (John Pankow from TV's "Mad About You") is also very cool. He's Brantley's co-worker at the post office. The character Vera made me crack up a few times too! I think this movie captures the vibe of New York. (Where the storyline is going down) If you get into the main character, it's almost like you're THERE, ya know? See this movie a few times and you'll understand what I mean. The film is backed up by some FANTASTIC music. The Soundtrack is really special! Songwriter/Producer David Foster is the music producer in this picture, and he even made a hard rockin' song with the American multi-platinum selling rock band Night Ranger (who by the way are BACK in the music world with two great new studio albums called "Neverland" and "Seven") for this movie. The song is called "The Secret Of My Success" and is the film's theme. I give this film 10 stars because it's such an enjoyable, entertaining one!

The eighties, the decade of ugly clothes and hairstyles, bad music and easily forgettable movies. But there is one positive aspect about that decade and that is Michael J. Fox. He's probably one of the few actors who started his movie career at those days who I still admire. He's still nice to watch, especially in light weighted comedies like this one. In fact, the title "The Secret of My Succe$s" already says enough about what you can expect from this movie (also notice the little dollar sign in the title), but I'll give a short resume anyway. It shows how Brantley Foster, a talented and well-educated young man coming from rural Kansas, goes to New York to find a suiting job and a nice girlfriend. But he isn't very successful, no company wants to hire him, because he doesn't have any experience. Before leaving Kansas for the Big Apple, his father had bought him a return ticket home and his mother gave him the address of his in New York living uncle, Howard Prescott, just in case when he should need some help. But what Foster didn't know is that his uncle runs a multi-million-dollar company. When he pays him a visit, he gets a job ... in the mail room. But then he meets Christy Wills, who happens to be one of the top executives. Believing that the best way to win her over is by posing as an executive, Brantley decides to take a position under the name Carlton Whitfield and of course things soon start to get completely out of hand... I admit that this movie is as 'eighties' as you can get them. I'm pretty sure that no-one of todays directors would be able to make it exactly the way it looks, because they don't write scripts like that anymore and there are no more actors like Fox. The man that comes closest for this kind of role is probably Jim Carrey, but even then you would get a completely different kind of movie. It's probably thanks to Michael J. Fox, who is really very nice in this movie, that I forgot about most of its flaws. Once again he's the boyish, sweet guy and that's probably the best thing this movie has to offer. If it hadn't been for him, almost no-one would ever have seen the movie or would still remember it because the story isn't special and it's too typical for that time period. All in all this is a fast-paced comedy full of typical eighties clichés, but it works thanks to Michael J. Fox's performance and that's why I still give it a 7/10.

Except maybe the red lamp on Michael J. Fox's table at his New York appartement: it's totally Seventies. This movie is a very light, very enjoyable, a veritable document of the upbeat economic spirit that created the cesspool we're currently swimming through. College boy from Kansas arrives at the big city, loses his job before starting it, and still makes it big whilst shagging the boss's wife while he's at it. Great use of Yello's Oh Yeah track. Simply astounding cinematography. And lots of Texas big hair. Overall, a flashy, light, entertaining movie. Nuff said.