El Dr. Hollywood

No surprises. No twisted plots. No complex love triangles. This movie is pure and simple entertainment. Okay, it's hokey and it's trite, and the acting at times is marginally acceptable. But it goes with the terrain, for this is America, this is life, this is real people.

It's a nice movie. See it. Don't expect much, but do expect to enjoy it.

The title immediately put me off. The star, Michael J Fox immediately put me off. But once I got past those 2 major obstacles and settled in, I found a little gem of a movie.

Fox's young doctor, all full of spit and vinegar, sets off across country to medical nirvana: a highly sought position in a prestigious Beverly Hills plastic surgery practice. On the way, Doc Hollywood is waylaid in definitive small town USA, Grady Ga. on the cusp of the annual squash festival.

Am I boring you? Likely, but this film is never boring, a character driven comedy with superlative performances in each and every nook and cranny-particularly David Ogden Stiers (no Maj Winchester here) and Barnard Hughes. Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda have smallish parts. Even George Hamilton is bearable in a cameo.

Liked it so much, I headed out to find director Michael Caton-Jones previous effort, Memphis Belle.

When I sat down to watch this film I thought I would be very bored. It turns out that this film is intoxicating. I couldn't stop watching it at all. Michael J. Fox does a good job in the lead role, and there are great character turns from Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda. The love story between Fox and Julie Warner is very funny to watch develop and their timing is classic romantic comedy. The director, Michael Caton-jones, does a great job with a typical fish-out=of-water script and the score from Carter Burwell is exceptional. I had alot of fun watching this film.

"Doc Hollywood" is an excellent film and very well done. The comedy is very good throughout the film and the characters are all very interesting. I personally, love small towns like the one depicted in the film.

The cast in this film is very good as well. Michael J. Fox is excellent as always and rakes in a good amount of laughs in the film. Julie Warner is an excellent love interest for the film and looks fantastic in the film. Bridget Fonda looks better than ever and does a great job acting. Woody Harrelson does a fine job with his role, and plays a particularly interesting character. David Ogden Stiers plays a very likeable town mayor and does an incredible job with his role. The rest of the supporting cast is very good as well. Director, Michael Caton-Jones, adds another fine film to his list of films.

I also feel I should mention the music in the film. I thought all the music was very likeable and very good choices. I especially like the title sequence and the song (I have no idea who the song is written/performed by).

This is just a feel-good, fun movie. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone that likes stories about the small town lifestyle and romantic comedies. I hope that you enjoy the film as much as I did. Thanks for reading,

-Chris

my trepidation upon watching this wasn't Michael J Fox. I've long thought that the knocking he takes is nothing to do with him being a poor actor. Far form it, he's a great actor. The bad mouthing is because of his success. It becomes 'trendy' to put a successful actor down.

Any trepidation I had was purely down to the fact that it was described as a rom-com. And it isn't. Not really. It's only a rom-com in the way that Groundhog Day is a rom-com. It has a magic that lifts it far above labelling it as a rom-com.

Fabulous little movie that deserves a space on anybody's DVD shelf.