Bright Lights, Big City

Starring:Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland, Phoebe Cates, Swoosie Kurtz, Frances Sternhagen, Tracy Pollan, John Houseman, Charlie Schlatter, David Warrilow, Dianne Wiest, Alec Mapa, William Hickey, Gina Belafonte, Sam Robards, Bernard Zette, Marika Blossfeldt, Jessica Lundy, Kelly Lynch, Peter Boyden, Annabelle Gurwitch
Director: James Bridges
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Michael J. Fox plays the most sympathetic cocaine addict you've ever seen in the movie of Jay McInerney's popular novel Bright Lights, Big City, the book that famously chronicled the coke- and cash-fueled era of the 1980s. Jamie Conway (Fox) works as a fact-checker for a major New York magazine, but because he spends his nights partying with his glib best friend (Kiefer Sutherland), he's on the verge of getting fired. His wife, a fast-rising model (Phoebe Cates), just left him; he's still reeling from the death of his mother (Dianne Wiest) a year earlier; and he's obsessed with a tabloid story about a pregnant woman in a coma. Bright Lights, Big City doesn't have much of a plot, but in its meandering way it captures some of the glossy chaos of the time and of a man desperately trying to escape the pain in his life. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Turn out the lights.................2006-10-30

The only Michael J. Fox film that is worse than "Bright Lights, Big City", is "Light of Day" with co-star Joan Jett. Fox gives a good performance considering, but I would call both of these films "duds". Every actor has to make a few appearances in bad films, to pay their dues, so to speak, to acquire name recognition within the industry. This film was made before Fox's career really starting taking off. He came off running good in "Back to the Future", but "Bright Lights, Big City" was nothing more than a stumbling block to his career, in my humble opinion. This film was not well written, poorly directed, distasefully done. It is boring and the subject matter goes way overboard into the drug scene. I felt it gloried a lot of disgusting things. I was not at all impressed. The acting was good, casting was good, good cinematography, but just a very poor screenplay to begin with, for which there is no resurrection. Not something I would recommend. There are many other movies to choose from that are entertaining, and well done. This is not one of them.

It all went up his nose, and we parted with our cash for this too!.......2006-02-05

Michael J Fox stared in a few movies in the 80s about being a yuppie in New York. While in The Secret of My Success he was a lovable yuppie scum from Kansas, here he is a not so lovable yuppie scum from Kansas who is absorbed in the heady nightlife of cocaine and all that was New York in the 80s. He is in despair, as his job is going downhill, his wife has left him, there are no friends to be found, and it's all falling apart.

It's hard for me to feel sympathy for someone like this. He made choices to live this way. His use of drugs was not the result of abuse, desperation or being forced into doing something he didn't want to do, it was the result of his own choices. His wife left him because she doesn't want to watch him go down. His friends are not really his friends, and he is loosing footing with his job. "What? Me? Get up and go to work? I don't like the way you said that, I'm not going." And the coke straw says "You know you're right." Michael J Fox seems to be someone who has had a lot of advantages in life and he is throwing them away for the next high. I've watched many friends ruin their lives with this, and none of them are my friends anymore because of their choices. I choose to live in happiness, to be in the light, and to be responsible enough to support myself. Guess what? That's cool and they're not.

Why not one star? In terms of a cinematic achievement, they were able to capture the paranoia and upset that is cocain addiction so the audience is able to experience it for themselves. A few movies have been able to achieve this, such as Good Fellas and Boogie Nights, and this movie for that alone has fallen into the slush pile. Michael J Fox had his own addictions he was able to overcome, I wonder what happened to a lot of those people this movie was about from the 80s.

Bright Lights, Big Sh*tty.......2005-09-09

Some people may think it's difficult to watch a movie where the lead spends almost the entire film being a jerk and snorting his paycheck - but stick with this one and you witness Michael J. Fox reaching his (sort of) salvation. The score is outstanding 80's, especially the Donald Fagen version of the title song and the closing number.
Watch for a great cameo by Jason Robards and the painful reward given to Keefer Sutherland.

Bright stars, small gem.......2005-08-08

James Bridges (Urban Cowboy) directs Michael J. Fox (Back To The Future), Phoebe Cates (Fast Times At Ridgemont High), and Keifer Sutherland (The Lost Boys, Stand By Me) in this overlooked 80's movie about a man's struggle with a dark past and the overwhelmingly hysterical cocaine-driven nightlife of New York City.

Fox plays Jamie Conway, a struggling writer and editor in a small time magazine, who has just been dumped by his big shot model wife Amanda and is still mourning the death of his mother from cancer a year ago. He's also concerned with a newspaper article following the tragic events of a pregnant woman in coma simply because it reminds him of the last conversation between him and his dying mother about how painful it was for her to give birth to him because he "didn't want to get out".

The events of the movie pursue Jamie on his manic pursuit of Amanda and the fact that he feels used and terribly upset with the way she left him, and his dreadful shortcomings at work that cost him his job. The main focus of the movie however is how addicted Jamie gets to cocaine and the negative results it has on his health. Keifer Sutherland plays Aligash, a suave businessman who joins Jamie in the crazy nightlife scene and ends up hooking him up with a woman that seems to be what Jamie was looking for for a long time.

Although the movie might seem plotless, it captures a certain vibe that you can't seem to pull away from. It's also very interesting to see Fox play a character that totally defines the complete opposite of what Marty McFly is.

Bright Lights, Big City features cameo appearances by high profile actors like John Houseman, Sam Robards, and Dianne Wiest.

Recommended

B

Tedious.......2005-02-21

Man! They call people today self-absorbed! This movie felt so repetitive (how many times do we need to see the main character bolt for a bathroom stall to get high?) and forced. I ended up leaving it on as background noise while doing better things with my time than continue watching. The only thing powerful about this movie was how powerfully self-important and tedious it was!

Average customer rating:

Turn out the lights..........
It all went up his nose, and we parted with our cash for this too!
Bright Lights, Big Sh*tty
Bright stars, small gem
Tedious

Bright Lights, Big City [Region 2]
Starring: Michael J. Fox , Kiefer Sutherland , Phoebe Cates , Swoosie Kurtz , and Frances Sternhagen
Director: James Bridges
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Less Than Zero
The Secret of My Success
1969
The Right Temptation
Brotherhood of Justice

ASIN: B0000A08IM

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Turn out the lights.................2006-10-30

It all went up his nose, and we parted with our cash for this too!.......2006-02-05

Bright Lights, Big Sh*tty.......2005-09-09

Bright stars, small gem.......2005-08-08

Tedious.......2005-02-21

Charlie Rose with Joseph Rotblat; David O. Russell; Jay McInerny; Noah Adams (May 10, 1996)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Joseph Rotblat; David O. Russell; Jay McInerny; Noah Adams (May 10, 1996)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

First, Physicist Joseph Rotblat was the only scientist to leave the Manhattan Project before the A-bomb was tested. Ten years later, he signed the historic Russell-Einstein Manifesto. It called for the end to all nuclear weapons and was the beginning of Rotblat's fifty year fight for total nuclear disarmament. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 and tonight he talks to Charlie about his cause. Then, filmmaker David O. Russell discusses his new film, Flirting With Disaster. It is about a young father's search for his biological parents, which sends him on a cross-country trek. Also, author Jay McInerny's 1984 debut, Bright Lights, Big City chronicled the excess of the 1980s and made him an overnight success. More than a decade later, he talks to Charlie about the dawn of a new century and his latest book, The Last of the Savages. Finally, Noah Adams, host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered, talks about his experience learning the piano at age 51 and the book it led to, Piano Lessons: Music, Love and True Adventures.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Bloodfist 8 - Hard Way Out

Bangkok Hilton

Cheech And Chong Collection - Organically Grown In USA

DVD: To Serve and Protect

Verdi, Giuseppe - Aida