"Life With Mikey" (1993)

Keep in mind I bought this on a very slow weekend in a two pack with the equally odd "FatherHOOD" - the Patrick Swayze-I-Not-Dalton "Road HOUSE" post years.

This movie is an extension of a sitcom which matches perfect with Michael J. Fox who plays..um…Mikey. He is a former child star who is now a struggling child actor agent. He is a sad sack man-child who rides the success of him as a child and along with his brother (played by Nathan Lane) is saddled with day to day terrible child performers. Does it matter what the children do? Not really. They just bop along this mid-level existence, which I would maybe say…the fray. They are literally supported by one spoiled child actor.

One fateful day…he runs into a streetwise punk kid Angela (Christina Vidal) who displays some talent in acting in how she tap dances through a failed pick-pocket attempt. Which catches the attention of Mikey.

What exactly he sees in her, eventually gets seen by the city of New York.

This is a little off, in terms of tone. Are we watching a fable of a movie? Or is it grounded in reality. The music and dialogue says we’re in some…vintage style movie. But has moments of painful reality. This is something that most likely wouldn’t be in a Frank Capra movie. Or at least, the way it’s portrayed is in a more harsh world. One where we roll our eyes at any sentiment.

So now we have to fight the adorability of all these children and Michael J. Fox’s charm. Is he charming? A little. He’s also annoying.  He isn’t terrible in it, but the movie is a mess. Which is a shame considering how endearing Nathan Lane AND Cyndi Lauper are. This is suppose to be…a big feel comedy. A movie like “Big” has a ton of heart. This is something that the movie inherently has. You can’t fake it. And you can’t drown it in score to make you feel anything for the characters. Angie isn’t all that pleasant of a person to be around. Nor is she as a human being. The terrible truth about stories like this is, you can’t force people to think she’s precious. The events make them so. We can’t have some wealthy executive watch her perform in some mediocre commercial KNOWING she isn’t all that great, but just so that it suits the plot, he gushes over her “realism.” Sorry, that shit doesn’t fly. That is the rule of “don’t tell us, show us.” Unfortunately, this runs throughout the movie. In the case of the spoiled child actor who bullies his mousy mother and has an inexplicable crush on this hood rat. Nope. Sorry, don’t buy it. But it suits the plot.

Also, painting the city of New York so accepting of a pickpocket DOESN’T fly. Again, I understand this fits the “Miracle On 34^th Street” rule, but in 1993…most likely Angie would be thrown into juvenile detention and left for dead, only to emerge as a prostitute. I figure, the best way to side step this is…NOT make her a criminal…maybe. I think it’s enough that she lives in poverty. Maybe Mikey sees her “acting” her way to a free meal. This would exist in a Ernest Lubitsch movie. The way it stands now, we’re way too deep into her crime to bounce back. In “Curly Sue” we at least had Bill (James Belushi) to tell us that they don’t steal.

This movie ends the way you think it does. The journey is a rough sled. You wish it was…bigger. You almost feel with Nathan Lane as the lead, it would’ve made more sense. Michael J. is just a little too much grounded in the truth and it’s a painful reminder how the transition to movies are just too hard to swallow.