LIFE WITH MIKEY
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Rating: 4.2 out of 10 (D, *1/2 out of ****)
Date Released: 6/4/93 Running Length: 1:32 Rated: PG (Little offensive)
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christina Vidal, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper,
Ruben Blades
Director: James Lapine
Producers: Terry Schwartz and Scott Rudin
Screenplay: Marc Lawrence
Music: Alan Menken
Released by Touchstone Pictures
Fifteen years ago, Michael Chapman (Michael J. Fox) was a pint-sized TV superstar, the wisecracking cute kid on a sitcom called LIFE WITH MIKEY. Now, long after leaving professional acting behind, he and his brother Ed (Nathan Lane) run a talent agency for children with marginal-to-nonexistent ability. Their fortunes are sinking quickly until Michael runs into ten-year-old pickpocket Angie Vega on the street. So impressed is he by the performance she gives when she's caught lifting some guy's wallet that he invites her to the agency for an audition.
Every summer movie season has its blockbuster duds; surprise hits; and dull, brainless, formula "family films" guaranteed to fall between the cracks. LIFE WITH MIKEY belongs firmly in the third category. This is a vapid film, with little to recommend it save its lack of anything offensive. The draw is that parents can take their offspring to the theater without fear of hearing a string of profanity, seeing someone get shot or mauled, or being bombarded by half-naked women running across the screen. Unfortunately, such "wholesomeness" is not nearly enough reason to spend money and time on LIFE WITH MIKEY.
Actually, this looks more like a made-for-TV movie than something developed for theatrical release (although, from the start, it was always intended for the big screen). The production quality is low and the script a product of the plot-by-numbers division of Hollywood. Little more intelligence has been put into the main story than was included in the intentionally-awful clips we see from LIFE WITH MIKEY.
Something interesting in the premise got lost in the movie's transition from an idea to the final product. Having Michael J. Fox play a kid-star who becomes a nothing as an adult (no money, no recognition, and no self-respect) is a potentially-intriguing prospect, but LIFE WITH MIKEY does little to build on this theme. Instead, it spends most of its time on the barbed-tongue wrangling between Michael and his discovery. This is the umpteenth movie in which the child melts the heart of a cynical adult while the adult shows her/him that someone cares. It's a tale that Hollywood has done to death, and this movie has nothing to add to it.
One of the few surprises about LIFE WITH MIKEY is the movie's lack of energy. Caused by a combination of "mail-in-the-performance" acting, poor directing, a routine music score (by Alan Menken, who seems to get worse with every soundtrack), and pedestrian camerawork, the sense of lethargy pervades every scene, threatening to lull the unsuspecting viewer to sleep. There are a couple of funny moments, but they neither last long nor are they memorable enough to recall after the final credits roll.
Michael J. Fox has never been a great comic actor, but he usually does an adequate job (as in BACK TO THE FUTURE and DOC HOLLYWOOD). Not so in LIFE WITH MIKEY. Perhaps he's trying to parody himself as an ex-young TV star, but his character comes across as completely unconvincing. Christina Vidal, a newcomer, supplies the only brief bursts of liveliness available in this otherwise-stagnant picture, but she still has a lot of rough edges. Too often, it's plain that she's acting.
LIFE WITH MIKEY is a subpar piece of film making for which the producers' intentions are all-too-apparent. In slapping together a formula-riddled picture, they hope to cash in on the early-summer family-oriented audience (those that are questing for something to see before the re-release of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES). Considering the creative limitations of this project, such blatant marketing is patently offensive. Those with a yen to see something for the whole family can find hundreds of better offerings on video, and fans of Michael J. Fox would do better to peruse old episodes of FAMILY TIES. At least back then, he appeared to care about what he was doing.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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