The Secret of My Success (1987)

1982 marked Michael J. Fox's big break with the hit television show Family Ties, boosting Fox to a household name and leading him to his first big film success as Marty McFly in 1985's classic Back to the Future. Three years later would come Fox's string similar themed comedies plotted around success, money and women. The Secret of My Success, staring Fox as Brantly Foster, a small town farm boy from Kansas with dreams of making it big in New York. But Brantly quickly discovers New York isn't all it's cracked up to be when he loses his job before he even starts it. Distraught, Brantly is determined not to give up, mainly due to the fact that he boasted so much to his family about how successful he'd become in New York. With no one is willing to hire a farm boy fresh out of college Brantly has one last option, a distant uncle named Howard Prescott.

President of a multi-million dollar company, Prescott sees a little spark in Brantly's determination to do whatever it takes and gives him a job in the mail room. It's not the most glamorous job but it does give Brantly an opportunity to get to know the workings of the company. Brantly is determined not to spend the rest of his life in the mail room and quickly puts his college education to work by studying the inner workings of the company and discovering all sorts of the resolvable issues. Unfortunately no one is going to listen to the ideas of a mail clerk, so Brantly takes on the identity of Carlton Whitfield, moving into an empty office and quickly making a name for himself. But Brantly is taking on more than he can handle, attempting to balance dual identities, dual jobs, and two very volatile relationships, one with a woman that turns out to be his uncle's wife and a coworker whose having an affair with his uncle!

The Secret of My Success begins Fox's comedy run of what could almost be entitled the Fox quad-trilogy, which includes Doc Hollywood, For Love or Money, and Greedy, four films that seemed to be intertwined in roles where a money hungry Michael J. Fox learns the lessons of life and love, while trying to impress women who all seem to not be too interested in him. Coincidence or not these films are far enough out there and funny enough to be quite entertaining. The Secret of My Success is not my favorite of the four films but it does offer quite a few laughs and manages to move rather quickly. The major problem with the film is the whole love circle begins to get old quite fast as Brantly is continually chased around by his Aunt Vera, and his Uncle is chasing around his crush, played by Helen Slater. But aside from that it's an entertaining and brainless comedy.

6/10