Bright Lights, Big City (1988)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jamie Comway	Michael J. Fox	½
Tad Allagash	Kiefer Sutherland	½
Amanda Conway	Phoebe Cates	-
Megan	Swoosie Kurtz	½
Clara Tillinghast	Frances Sternhagen
Vicky Allagash	Tracy Pollan	½
Mr. Vogel	John Houseman	-
Michael	Charlie Schlatter	-
Mother	Dianne Wiest	-
Mr. Hardy (uncredited)	Jason Robards	-

Review

There's not quite enough of the bright lights and the big city in this adaptation of Jay McInerney's best-selling novel about drugging, clubbing and heartbreak in 1980s New York City. The director is James Bridges (The China Syndrome), and to his credit, he does treat the material seriously and is able to retain a certain meandering, literary quality. But the film never quite feels like it's reporting from the inside. You always feel a slight distance to the material, which keeps you from being fully transported into the hotchpotch of the city. Bright Lights, Big City has not ended up as a cheap fashion statement, as some of its contemporaries did, but it doesn't have the necessary allure and excitement to do McIrneney's novel justice. Michael J. Fox, although arguably miscast, gives it his all in the lead. His drunken monologue at Swoosie Kurtz' apartment might just be the best acting he did in all his career. With Kiefer Sutherland as Fox' snorting-buddy and an underused Phoebe Cates as his ex.