STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE – Review

As we slide into the 2023 Summer movie season, a new release takes us back to another one, now 38 years old. And while in recent years you could say that a major studio “owned’ the Summer as Paramount did last year with the TOP GUN sequel, or as Marvel Studios has done (along with some characters licensed out to others) a couple of years prior. Oh, but the Summer of 1985 was pretty much owned by an unlikely cinema superstar, Michael J. Fox. For a week or two his “star vehicles”, BACK TO THE FUTURE and TEEN WOLF were respectively numbers one and two on the box office charts. But his streak wasn’t limited to the big screen, as his “day job” on the NBC sitcom “Family Ties” had a safe perch in the top ten Nielsen ratings. But now he’s perhaps best known for his battle to defeat the deadly disease that has taken him away (for the most part) from the sound stages and into medical research fundraisers and labs. His incredible journey is expertly detailed in the new documentary feature, STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE.

The film actually begins during one of Michael’s biggest “movie star” years, as he recovers from a night of hard partying with co-star Woody Harrelson (they were teamed in DOC HOLLYWOOD) in a swanky Florida hotel room. He raises his hand to block the sunlight and notices something odd. He can’t stop his pinky finger from twitching, almost as though it were vibrating. Jump cut to Fox today as he tells of soon getting the stupifying diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in 1991 (“But that just happens to old folks!”). We then follow him along as he works with his physical therapist, exercising and trying to walk without slamming into walls (and we do see him take a spill, and then ease the tension with a perfectly-timed quip). From there it’s “back to the past” with a peak at his early life, growing up as the “baby of the family” in the suburbs of Canada where the acting bug bit him when he got his first laugh on stage. Even though his pop thought he was a, well “f*#%#up, he took him to seek greater fame (he was a sitcom star on the CBC) in LA. Fox relates the usual “horror stories” of struggle (swiped jelly packs for meals and selling off a sectional couch one piece at a time) until that script from Family Ties arrived. It seems all of his bosses, the show’s producer, and the network chief (the “lunchbox” story is a hoot), were against him, but the audience adored him. Then it’s just a couple of years until he’s tapped to replace the lead in the big Spielberg/Zemeckis time travel epic and shoot it at night and on weekends while still doing the TV show (we get a POV of his hectic schedule for over three months). With his career headed into the stratosphere, he’s gobsmacked by the smart NYC stage actress brought in to play his TV girlfriend, Tracy Pollan. The film shifts to love story mode, from their uneasy first meetings to a lasting marriage and a quartet of kids. Tracy is his “rock” when the disease kicks in, helping him deal with it (Fox found ways of hiding symptoms during his second TV show, “Spin City”), until he finally “went public” in 1998. we get intimate details of the start of his research foundation, his occasional forays back into TV, and the struggle and triumphs as Fox strives to keep moving forward.

Bravo to the film’s subject and also to the inventive talented filmmaker that destroys the many misconceptions over documentary features. I’m speaking of Davis Guggenheim, Oscar-winner for AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, who has delivered a string of compelling non-fiction films. Here he balances the standard “talking head” interviews, proving that Fox has lost little of his communication skills, with first-person narration (much of it gleamed from Fox’s lauded memoirs and recreations of pivotal moments in recent history. Now, here’s the clever “bit” (and kudos to the research staff involved), archival news footage is seamlessly meshed with backstage clips, recreations using set “mock-ups” and “look-a-likes”(often seen from the back), along with footage from Fox’s film and TV work. A story of an NYC press visit has bits from FOR LOVE OR MONEY (the hotel room) and BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY (on the sidewalks). And though his name is in the title, it’s his wife Tracy who may truly be the heart of the tale, especially when she sees Michael trying to drown his fear in booze. Honestly, I was somewhat dreading this film, as the recent news pieces on Fox are heartwrenching to watch. But, as he states in the film, Mr. Fox will have none of that. He’s got no time or patience for pity or sorrow (a real “save yer’ tears” fella’). You can almost imagine Parkinson’s looming over him ala BTTF’s Biff which recalls Fox as Marty knowing he’s maybe got one chance for a punch, so he’s putting everything into it. This film is an endearing look back at the “go-go” 1980s/90s which also inspires as an uplifting “call to action”. Who’d have thought that one of this year’s most compelling motion pictures would be about a former “teen dream” whose health struggles fail to keep him STILL, as in A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE? Way to be, Alex P.!

4 Out of 4

STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE opens in select theatres and streams exclusively on AppleTV+ beginning on Friday, May 12, 2023