The Secret of My Success
by Herbert Ross
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Helen Slater, John Pankow, Margaret Whitton, Michael J. Fox, Richard JordanDirector: Herbert Ross
Brand: Universal
Producer: Herbert Ross
Producer: David Chasman
Producer: Joseph M. Caracciolo
Producer: Nora Kaye
Writer: AJ Carothers
Writer: Jack Epps Jr.
Writer: Jim Cash
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 111 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-10-27
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of The Secret of My Success
Movie Review: Your secret is safe with me
Summary: 3 Stars
I remember when this movie came out in the late 1980's. Michael J. Fox was one of the iconic actors of that decade, famous for his portrayals as the stuffy but endearing Alex P. Keaton on TV's "Family Ties", as well as the in-over-his-head teen caught up in a time-travelling nightmare in "Back to the Future". It's safe to say that just about anything Michael J. Fox touched in this era was all but guaranteed gold. And there's nothing wrong with that. The kid always came across as a genuine article likeable guy, all-American, with a real penchant for bringing out belly laughs. And I think this is what made "The Secret of My Success" so "successful" during it's theatrical run, because viewed two decades later with all of this in it's proper context, the movie is cute but long in the tooth and really just not *that* funny. Spoilers ahead! Consider yourself warned!
Fox portrays Brantley Foster, an idealistic small town college graduate from Kansas determined to move to NY City and make it big in the business world. Upon finding himself in the Big Apple the job he had lined up has been suddenly and unexpectedly axed, leading Foster into unemployment. He runs through the motions of trying to find another job until, desperate, he eventually goes to his distant uncle, Howard Prescott (played by the ever fantastic Richard Jordan), who just so happens to be CEO of a major company in NYC, for a job. After an impassioned speech to Prescott, Foster is given a job in the mailroom, where he befriends coworker Fred (John Pankow from "To Live and Die in LA") and comes under immediate suspicion from the mailroom boss. Pankow shows him the ropes and eventually Foster sees Christy Wills (played by "Supergirl" Helen Slater) in one of the most ridiculous water-fountain drinking sequences I have ever been subjected to. I know it's the whole "love at first sight thing", but really folks...it's just a water fountain! *rolls eyes*
The plot thickens when Foster ends up doing a one day limo service for an executive's wife, Vera (Margaret Whitton from "Major League"), and after some awkward back and forth, she seduces him and, as the Bible puts it, he "knows" her. He discovers five minutes afterwards that it turns out Vera is Prescott's wife, making her Foster's aunt. Follow all that? :)
Bear in mind we haven't even really touched upon the main theme of the film, namely what makes the "Secret" so "Successful", which basically involves Foster getting uppity and hijacking an empty office space for himself and taking on the role of an executive without anyone knowing it's all a sham.
The movie has some truly funny moments (Foster's constant costume changing in the elevator is hilarious) but even Fox's charisma can't carry this film all the way through and after a while it turns into a series of mediocre slapstick moments tacked on to each other. The "room switching" scene in Prescott's mansion towards the end of the film exemplifies the problem. Here's a scene in which all the principals are trying to sneak off to various rooms to get their thing on with the other principals while simultaneously trying to not be seen en route there. It was a scene that was rife with comedic potential and it was squandered by poor pacing, lousy camera angles, unfunny slapstick, and very extended overuse of "Oh Yeah" by Yello (made famous by "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Oh Yeaaaah *bow bow chick...chicka chicka*), a song which is cool in small amounts but gratingly annoying when one is forced to endure it for several minutes at a time.
On a personal note I found it rather hypocritical of Foster to go around accusing Prescott of cheating on his wife when Foster was "knowing" her himself. He goes to Prescott at the beginning of the movie, who gives him a chance in his company when he didn't *have* to (this is key), and yet Foster ultimately pays him back by getting him fired? I would say that capitalism works out its own bugs without interference from outside forces but this just came across as a little to "personal" to me, and I felt that Foster simply did not have the proper motives for such animosity towards his benefactor (although Vera admittedly did). In fact, considering that Foster's "success" was based entirely upon fraud I would think that there should have been at least *some* minor penalty for him. Instead he gets the CEO job, the girl, and does it all pretty dishonestly. Perhaps I make too much of it, but it deeply bothered me that I had seen it happen and with no consequence. I know...I know...it's just a movie. :P
"Secret" was, to me, a fairly mediocre movie, filled with 80's synthesizer music (and a whole pile of "Oh Yeah" by Yello), occasionally funny moments, and the ever likeable Michael J. Fox. It's certainly worth of a rental but this is not one that I'll be rushing forward to put in my DVD collection anytime soon. It feels overlong for what it is and probably could have been condensed into a much shorter movie with much better effect.
Summary of The Secret of My Success
An ambitious young man hustles his way up the corporate ladder and finds himself running into comical complications on the job and in love. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 03/18/2003 Starring: Michael J. Fox Helen Slater Run time: 111 minutes Rating: Pg13Derivative fluff from 1987, made tolerable by its bawdy exuberance and an appealing performance by Michael J. Fox, who was still enjoying TV stardom and the career momentum he earned by traveling Back to the Future. Here he plays a Kansas farm boy who dreams of scoring big in New York City, but reality turns out to be brutal to his ambition. When his uncle (Richard Jordan) gives him a mail-room job in the high-rise headquarters of a major corporation, Fox occupies an empty office and poses as a young executive, winning the attention of a lovely young colleague (Helen Slater) and having an affair with his boss's wife (Margaret Whitton). Sporadically amusing as a yuppie comedy and rather off-putting as a wannabe sex farce, the movie's still recommendable for its lively cast and a breezy style that almost succeeds in updating the conventions of vintage screwball comedy. Whitton is a standout performer here, so you may wonder why her comedic talent has been underrated, apart from a good role in the first two Major League movies. This may be little more than a big-screen sitcom, but it's not without its charms. --Jeff Shannon
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