Doc Hollywood - Dottore in carriera

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.

Entertaining little film that has Michael J. Fox on his way to Hollywood to take a job as a plastic surgeon. However, a freak accident causes his car to be wrecked in a small country town that he just cannot seem to get out of. Naturally his very expensive car needs special parts that are not available. Thus the townspeople try to get Fox to stay as the community doctor to take the place of the elderly acid-mouthed Barnard Hughes. While in town Fox locks horns with Woody Harrelson, becomes friends with the priceless Bridget Fonda (who has her eyes on Fox) and falls in love with ambulance driver Julie Warner. George Hamilton is also a real scene-stealer as the all-world plastic surgeon that Fox should be working with. A really good over-achiever that represents all the things that make Fox a likeable screen presence. Far from excellent, but a charming little production nonetheless. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

"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

I didn't like Doc Hollywood the first time I saw it in 1991 --- then I watched it again a few years ago and was blown away by the writing, acting and all-around sweet nature of the film.

Dr. Ben Stone is leaving DC for a job doing plastic surgery for celebs in LA when he runs into a picket fence in a small Southern town and has to do 3 days of community service at their clinic as penance. His fancy sports car is totaled anyway and he has to get it fixed. Miffed at being waylaid in such a hokey place, he tries to get through the next few days in time for his new job.

He meets a wide cast of characters -- and to their credit, not everyone in a small town is so gosh-friendly. Some are mean, some are troubled, some are nice -- like any other array of people. Ben meets Lou, a single mother who drives the ambulance, as well as Nancy Lee Nicholson, a confused beauty who wants him to take her to LA.

This movie is great because it is about many people deciding for themselves how they want to live -- whether in a big city or in a small town -- and why they value what they do. It is also about an epiphany for Ben Stone and changing of his ways internally.

When future film critics decide to analyze the career of Michael J. Fox, they will likely say his talents were best suited to television, with an acknowledgement that he did star in the BACK TO THE FUTURE series. This will be a shame, as Fox has been an ingratiating, very enjoyable actor to watch, in most of his films, and DOC HOLLYWOOD is one of his best roles.

As breezy, fast-talking Washington, D.C. surgeon Dr. Ben Stone, who dreams of making big money doing plastic surgery in Hollywood, but finds his true calling as a general practitioner in a small southern hamlet, Fox is so 'right' that you can't imagine any other actor in the role. After a minor traffic accident enroute to California forces him to do 'public service' in fictional Grady, South Carolina, taking on much of the workload of a crusty old local physician (the always enjoyable Barnard Hughes), Stone becomes the 'talk' of the town, and rustic but wise Mayor Nick Nicholson (David Ogden Stiers, in one of his most engaging performances), starts 'selling' the joys of country life to the cosmopolitan young doctor. A quilt with 'magical' powers provides a nude vision of the girl he's destined to love, 'Lou' (Julie Warner), who turns out to be working at his office; his hormone-fueled pursuit of her, and her pragmatic 'indifference' to his flirtations make their gradual romance edgy and fun to watch.

In a town full of colorful characters, two 'stars in the making' stand out; Woody Harrelson, as 'Lou's' suitor, Hank Gordon, a country variation of his bartending character from 'Cheers', talks dumb but has a knack for selling, only lacking a place to make big money at it; and Bridget Fonda, as Mayor Nicholson's oversexed but 'out of place' daughter, hopes Stone will take her away to the bright lights of Hollywood. Both stars are terrific in their supporting roles, and show the charisma that would lead them to stardom.

DOC HOLLYWOOD is full of charming vignettes, from Stone vicariously reading the mail for an illiterate farm couple, to being paid for services rendered with a rather large pig, who ultimately becomes his 'pet'. The film abounds in warm comic touches that are guaranteed to bring a smile!

With a very funny cameo by George Hamilton, as the Hollywood plastic surgeon Stone dreams of working with, DOC HOLLYWOOD hits all the right notes for a terrific entertainment. My only complaint about the film is that it was actually filmed in Florida; as a South Carolina resident, I can attest that MANY of our small towns could have doubled quite nicely for Grady...

DOC HOLLYWOOD is a film I'm proud to have in my collection!