Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Secret to My Success (1987)

Summary
Michael J. Fox returns to his boy’s medium Ralph Laurens and plays the role of Brantley Foster, a 25 year old mail boy with aeronautical dreams of parlaying an MBA from Kansas into an upper executive role at a Fortune 500 multinational. Foster reaches his goal by posing as an idealistic new executive with yet another ridiculous frat-kid name: Carlton Whitfield. Helen Slater co-stars as Christy Wills, a ball-busting glass ceiling breaker who’s jockeying the grease off of her boss and CEO, but falls in love with Whittfield’s date-rapist persisten
ce and marketing Performa graphs.

Cast

Capitalizing on his steamrolling popularity from days as Mallory’s exaggeratedly conservative younger brother, Alex P. Keaton, Fox chokes out this fluffer after starring in ass-to-ass mega-boners: Back to the Future and Teen Wolf; controversial films dealing with such topics as oedipal incest and bestiality, respectively. Despite a gross intake of $66 mil, Fox’s sheen baby face and Napoleonic stature, slots this film in a category
along side the likes of Little Big League and Doogie Houser M.D., of outrageous child-in-power scenario-based entertainment.

Helen Slater offers up her dark eyebrows and blond hair in role really more suited for a circus dwarf, as despite sky camera angles and Fox’s man-heels, Slater towers indecently above him throughout their romantic interchange. You may remember
r her title role portrayal in the 1984 box-office destroyer, Supergirl, or perhaps a more recent portrayal of Elaine Tallidise in episode 13 of NBC’s epic hit series, Crossing Jordan (a show we’ve never seen, but can only assume details a young Israeli’s travels from Amman to Tafilahm, set against the backdrop of the 1993 NBA Finals).

Basic Film Recipe
5 minutes of fragmented dialogue (from either poor editing or poor script). Toss in a 14 minute lead character-profile improving montage. Repeat until nausea or credits.

Verdict

Siphoning any real character empathy or development, this film’s score and cinematography are to blame for mugging viewers of the emotional recognition needed to pull portions of this motion picture out of cheese and into the realm of quirky. Offering minor laughs and even less reason to think, TSTMS happily flounders through a sensationalist’s plot line enveloping office stratification and awkward romantic webs in a strong-armed effort at simply bulldozing believability.

The Lords give The Secret of My Success 3 adult smalls out of 5.This is the first of possibly many pointless critical reviews of obscure 80s films.

3 comments:

Houstonpops said...

Great movie. Review is still relavent.

Diesel Burnes said...

I can't decide if I like the movie or this review more...

Anonymous said...

generic diazepam
On the other hand, there is no known interference with commonly used antidiabetics, anticoagulant or diuretic substances.
[url=http://www.silka.org/]valium 5mg[/url]

Benzodiazepines should be used with intense warning in patients with a history of alcohol or drug abuse.
http://www.silka.org/ - diazepam online

The use of Valium with alcohol is not recommended due to enhancement of the sedative effect.