![]() ![]() But that steel shines through – as does his sense of humour. because Fox was non-stop as a kid (‘I couldn’t be still’, he says) and Parkinson’s manifests in shaking and balance issues. I’m a tough son of a bitch,’ he tells Guggenheim in one of the film’s talking head interviews. Okay, not literally in the scurring-around-your-basement sense, but figuratively as a survivor and no one’s idea of a victim, Fox identifies with cockroaches. ![]() A formal diagnosis came in 1991 but, as the doc charts, it’d be seven more years before he revealed it publicly. It turned out to be a sign of Parkinson’s disease. ‘The trembling was a message from the future,’ Fox recalls. ![]() The reconstruction shows Fox waking up after a night’s drinking with his old friend and Doc Hollywood co-star Woody Harrelson, shaking and unable to focus on the finger in front of his face. Fox Movie opens, Apocalypse Now like, with a blurrily drunken hotel room encounter with its subject. Initially, he thought his Parkinson’s disease was a bad hangover Here are five unexpected revelations from the documentary. With new interviews, archive footage, some smart reconstructions and a tonne of spiky wit and still-boyish charm, the 61-year-old looks back at his Hollywood breakthrough, that cruel Parkinson’s diagnosis and a stirring comeback story in a heart-filling story of resilience under pressure. Fox Movie, a buoyant but bittersweet portrait of the kid from Edmonton, Canada who became a Hollywood icon.ĭirected by Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim ( An Inconvenient Truth), Still charts the euphoric highs and deep lows experienced by the one-time Marty McFly and Alex P Keaton. This year there are two to pick from: Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, about 1970s child star Brooke Shields and her bitter introduction to Hollywood, and Still: A Michael J. Like Grady, though you might not fancy it from outside, once you’re in you'll want to stay.One thing the Sundance Film Festival delivers almost without fail every year is a new doc that offers startling insights about the troubled life of a much-loved public figure – or, as was the case last year, Kanye West. ![]() Predictable perhaps, but Doc Hollywood is charming as hell. Elsewhere, while there are small roles for Woody Harrelson (a macho insurance salesman), Bridget Fonda (the local 'hottie') and George Hamilton (a plastic surgeon), Barnard Hughes steals the show as the crabby local doctor. It helps that Fox - on his usual charming, comic-delivering form - is paired with the perfectly-cast Julie Warner to forge a nice looking couple. On paper, this might sound trite and mushy, but it’s played so perfectly, with a beautiful score to boot, that it offers more genuine romance in less than a minute than most modern movies boast in their entirety. Take, for example, the small and tender moment where Dr Ben and local ambulance driver Lou (Julie Warner) stare at each other through the marching parade crowds. All we're really waiting for is Joey to climb in through Dawson's window.Īnd yet, while these clichés could irritate in lesser hands, here they offer the perfect setting for a sweeter-than-you'd-expect love story. Of course, in the small time period that Fox's big city-loving Doc is knocking around Grady, there's a parade, a carnival, a fireworks display and more. Forced to spend a few days there and take a role as the local practitioner, Stone's initial desperation to get out lessens as the friendly atmosphere grows on him slowly but surely.ĭirector Michael Caton-Jones leans much heavier towards the romantic end of the rom-com spectrum rather than out-and-out laughs, but the film remains heart-warming without ever approaching a syrupy corn-fest.Īs is always the case in this sort of the flick, the small town itself is as much a character as any of the cast. On his way to Los Angeles to become a high-paid plastic surgeon, hot-shot Doctor Ben Stone (Michael J Fox) crashes in the small town of Grady. The sort of movie you probably wouldn't watch unless you caught some of it on television (at which point you'd be hooked), Doc Hollywood is an underrated and decidedly charming affair. ![]()
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