The Secret of My Success
Published 2018-09-08
Film info
- Title The Secret of My Success
- Director Herbert Ross
- Year 1987
- Run time 1hr 51m
- Genre Comedy
- Tagline There's no such thing as an overnight success. Brantley Foster took two weeks.
- Cast Michael J. Fox
An affable young man from the country travels to New York determined to make it big. After landing a job in the mail room of a major corporation, he establishes a second identity as a whiz-kid executive and sets about convincing his boss to adopt his radical business ideas. However, things start to go wrong when he attracts the unwelcome attention of his boss's man-eating wife.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:20 | It's so useful for cities to have recognisable icons, like yellow taxis. |
| 4:48 | "I should warn you, I'm packing an iron." |
| 6:24 | I don't miss that catch-22 time of not being able to get a job without experience. |
| 13:27 | They need better soundproofing in their office. |
| 15:08 | You can do anything if you put your mind to it, Marty. I mean Brad. |
| 16:26 | No one looks elegant drinking from a water fountain, get lost. |
| 18:35 | Woah, that's Merc Lapidus! Baby Merc! |
| 20:20 | I'm loving these mail machines. Need an Inside the Factory on this. |
| 22:43 | This dude has a vendetta against the suits. |
| 26:56 | Who knew a car had so many euphemisms? |
| 32:18 | "Can I make a personal observation?" "Anything but the thighs." |
| 35:10 | This woman appears to arrive everywhere with her own soundtrack. |
| 40:12 | Michael J's character has the opposite of imposter syndrome. He drastically believes he should be there even though all the evidence suggests otherwise. |
| 41:35 | "There's enough talk in the world already." I like her. |
| 58:24 | He's got this quick change thing down to a fine art. Like an office-based Superman. |
| 1:00:30 | "Davis here has prepared what I'm sure is a thoroughly incompetent analysis but let's listen to him read it before we start criticising it." |
| 1:05:37 | Loving Shiela! And she was great as the doctor in the last film too. Amaze. |
| 1:08:14 | Speeeeeed! Relationships based on intense experiences. |
| 1:14:47 | Dude does a lot of sliding! |
| 1:24:12 | I'm exhausted. So many lies. |
| 1:33:30 | My head is fizzing. |
| 1:43:40 | Boardroom politics makes me squirm a little. A lot. |
Thoughts
Project "Catch up Michael J Fox's back catalogue" continues with this film that is a bit of a mish-mash of genres. There's a legitimate business story in there, hidden away beneath layers of fish-out-of-water comedy, slapstick craziness, and a love-triangle cherry on the top. Although it doesn't quite know what it's trying to be, I still really enjoyed the film.
Fox is brilliant as the genius kid who knows he can do better, and undermines the horrible boss every step of the way - getting involved with his wife, his mistress, and his business restructuring plans. It was fun to see such a young Merc and I quite enjoyed all the characters except Christy. Not a fan of that one.
Towards the end, as things were getting more complicated and more desperate, it got a bit stressful but I like the way it all worked out because I wasn't sure there was going to be a satisfactory conclusion from the mess everyone was in! Thankfully, there was, and that's another Michael J movie ticked off the list!
Rating: 4 / 5
