Bright Lights, Big City
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Gina Belafonte, Josie Bell, Kiefer Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, Phoebe CatesBrand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Cinematographer: Gordon Willis
Composer: Donald Fagen
Composer: Robert Mounsey
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-02
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Bright Lights, Big City
Movie Review: Go On With Your Life Already!
Summary: 3 Stars
This is an interesting movie in that it shows us how weak we can be about the plainest points when we are emotionally involved.
The story is basically this. Jamie Conway (Michael J. Fox) is struggling to keep an editing job he doesn't especially like. Though he does need it. His boss Claire is less than kind, though not quite a monster. She is often nasty, though she does seem to give him the benefit of the doubt sometimes, and she does tolerate his lateness to work that seems to have increased.
Later, we learn that Michael J. Fox is broken emotionally because his wife Amanda left him. Though we can readily see that she was just using him because she thought Fox would make it big as a writer, and as it turned out, she made it big as a model and decided she had no more use for Fox. This is where things get interesting. Because Fox is emotionally involved, he can't see that his wife was just an opportunist who was after anyone who could either support her, or move her into opportunities. So, he dwells and dwells on her to the point where he can not go on with his life.
This brings us to Ted Alagash. (Kiefer Sutherland) The movie seems to lead us into more sympathy with Fox. And at times, Sutherland does seem insensitive, and yes he does have a harsh sense of humor about Fox's sadness. But if we allow ourselves to be objective, we can see that Sutherland is tired of hearing about Fox's wife, and Sutherland is basically trying to tell Fox: "Enough! Go on with your life already!"
An obvious example is when Sutherland asks Fox to go out with his attractive cousin. Sutherland outlines the situation nicely when he makes this comment about Amanda: "God knows she wasn't hard to look at. I don't know why you felt you had to marry her though."
Throughout the movie, Fox, Sutherland, and their friends are portrayed as drug users. But a fine point worth considering is that Sutherland controls his drug intake. With Fox, it is clear that the drugs are controlling him. (It is also worth noting that Fox was into drugs before his wife left him.)
Things go from bad to worse as Fox loses his job. But he is still obsessed with his wife. I don't want to ruin the movie for those of you who haven't seen it, but there is an interesting outcome.
I'll just say that sometimes triumph comes from stepping outside of ourselves and realizing that there is more to life than our own existence.
One complaint I have about the movie is that at one point near the end, Fox compares Sutherland to Amanda which makes no sense. Amanda left Fox because there were offers that she considered better for her. Throughout the movie, Sutherland has been trying to convince Fox to go on with his life. Yes, his humor is harsh at times. But often, that is a way people use to tell others how absurd they are being in their self pity.
While not perfect, it is certainly interesting.
Summary of Bright Lights, Big City
Michael J. Fox ("Spin City," Back to the Future) just "couldn't be better" (L.A. Daily News) in this "wildly effective [and] truly powerful picture" (David Sheehan, NBC-TV)! Co-starringKiefer Sutherland, Phoebe Cates, Dianne Wiest and Swoosie Kurtz, and featuring a pulsating soundtrack from New Order, Depeche Mode and Prince, this "chronicle of wasted days and misplaced nights" (Roger Ebert) is a must-see! Jamie Conway (Fox) is an aspiring writer who trades the wheat fields of Kansas for the imposing skyline of Manhattanand the seductive party culture hidden within.When Jamie hits the club scene to enliven his nights and deaden his pain, he takes it to the limit until the limit threatens to take away everything and everyone he's ever loved.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
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