Life with Mikey (1993)

"Life with Mikey" covers similar territory to "Broadway Danny Rose" except the "Talent" are stagestruck juveniles rather than worn-out wannabes.Marooned at the bottom of the showbiz foodchain,agent Michael J. Fox is basically living on long memories and sympathy from his own time as a child star.When a cute kiddie down on her luck tries to pick his pocket he thinks he recognises potential star material in her. He gets her a role in a cookie commercial and sits back to count the cash-but things don't quite go according to plan........ Mr Fox is convincingly slobbed out and seedy and his clients as hopeless as you might expect,but there is very little spark to this movie. The scenes in the TV studio just aren't funny because the commercials are so self-aware that they are beyond parody.Mr Fox's cute little poppet herself is 11 going on 25 and Miss Cindy Lauper looks and sounds as though she was auditioning for a part in "Roxie Hart". I had never heard of this movie when it popped up on the digital channels the other afternoon and,to be honest,it won't stay long in my memory,but it does have its moments,mostly involving the child actor playing "The Cereal King" who possesses an awfulness that is,in it's own way,quite spellbinding. Made when the excellent Mr Fox's career was in the doldrums,"Life with Mikey" may well have excited his sense of deja-vu,but,for me,it belongs in that odd category of movies I file under the heading "Curate's Egg".

Disappointing comedy-drama with a sentimental coating has Michael J. Fox ideally cast as a former child star who now runs a talent agency for thespian tots; brother Nathan Lane and Cyndi Lauper are his assistants. This all sounds as if it can't miss, however too much of the scenario is given over to strident Christina Vidal as a streetwise tyke whom Fox believes will be the next big thing. They quickly lock horns, and the bantering, back-and-forth dialogue takes them to an uninteresting, formulaic finish. Fox and Lane are both appealing, but the energy of the early scenes gives way to treacle. Slickly-produced, but ultimately stale. *1/2 from ****

I love Michael J. Fox, so while I was channel surfing and caught a glimpse of him Life With Mikey, naturally I kept watching. I thought that both Fox and Lane were wonderful, and the movie also sparked an interest in David Krumholtz, who plays the pretentious (and annoying) child actor. I thought that the script was very funny, and it was acted well too. 4 out of 5 stars.

This movie has got to be one of the all-time lows of Michael J. Fox's generally respectable career. I should have known how awful this movie was when I rented it and found the movie only half viewed and not rewound by the previous renter. Never a good sign! Fox plays a grown up child star who's now an agent for other show business kids. His character is delusional in that he still believes that everyone should love him for being Mikey. His big break comes when he meets Angie Vega, a talented child. Vega is abrasive and not at all likeable. In fact, the only likeable character in the whole movie is Cyndi Lauper as a Brooklyn accented receptionist for the agency. One of those movies that makes me want to stick a post-it note to the box warning others not to waste their time!