Monday, July 5, 2021

The Secret of My Success (1987)

starring Michael J. Fox
directed by Herbert Ross

Brantley Foster moves from Kansas to New York City in the hopes of getting a job. The job he was promised disappears just as he arrives. He winds up working for his uncle Howard (Richard Jordan) who is the CEO of the Pemrose Corporation. His job is delivering mail but he fakes his way into a job as an executive. He gets involved with Vera (Margaret Whitton), his uncle's wife, and then with Christy (Helen Slater), another executive at Pemrose.

Uncle Howard is having an affair with Christy. The company is in danger of being taken over by Donald Davenport (Fred Gwynne). The executives are scrambling to come up with a plan to prevent Davenport from taking control. Vera is fed up with Howard and helps Brantley to take over Pemrose which was originally started by her father.

Notes

Herbert Ross also directed Steel Magnolias, Footloose, Undercover Blues, and a couple dozen other movies.

Mercedes Ruehl, whom I know best from her Academy Award winning performance in The Fisher King, shows up in one scene.

Fred Gwynne is best known to me for playing Herman on the Muensters. He only has a few lines as Donald Davenport and doesn't show up until the end of the movie.

Thoughts

Howard's relationship with Christy is icky, at the very least. It is strongly implied that he forced her to sleep with him. She doesn't seem romantically interested in him in the least bit. Brantley's relationship with Vera is also icky.

I saw this movie a number of times when I was much younger. It has probably been at least 25 years since I last saw it. I thought it was a lot of fun back then. Now it just seems ridiculous and dated.

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