The Secret of My Success 
2.5 out of 5 stars

By J.C. Correa

Thirty-eight years ago this week, The Secret of My Success, a light-hearted romp starring Michael J. Fox, was released. It went on to become a modest hit at a time when the young actor was a hot Hollywood property on the strength of both Back to the Future and TV’s Family Ties. On the occasion of this anniversary and coupled with the fact that I had not watched it in many years, I decided to revisit this comedic offering from the late 1980s.

The movie was produced and directed by Herbert Ross, whose noteworthy credits include The Goodbye Girl, Pennies from Heaven, and Footloose, among others. It tells the highly improbable story of Brantley Foster (Fox), a resourceful young man from Kansas with dreams of making it in New York City. When the job he had lined up upon arriving in the Big Apple goes up in smoke, he has to improvise and do whatever he can to get himself in the front door of a company.

Cashing in on the fact that his stern uncle Howard (Richard Jordan) is the CEO of a major corporation, Brantley gets himself in on the literal ground floor when the arrogant businessman throws him a bone with a slot in the mailroom. From here, Brantley sees an opportunity upon discovering that a swanky office is currently empty due to the recent canning of an executive. He thus concocts a harebrained scheme to move into said space by impersonating an influential new hire and throwing his weight around to protect the vulnerable company from being absorbed by a conglomerate. All of this, of course, under the noses of his clueless uncle and his petulant mailroom boss (Christopher Murney), who is constantly suspicious of Brantley’s unusual delivery routes. 

The screenplay was adapted by the team of Jim Cash and Jack Epps (Top Gun), along with AJ Carothers, who also conceived of the story. Needless to say, the plot requires a generous stretching of believability on our part. As it is, the movie cannot even qualify as a satire of capitalism and corporate greed because its examination of it is paper thin. It does a slightly better job as a takedown of 1980s New York culture, replete with depictions of rat-infested studio apartments and inner-city shootouts in broad daylight. 

In spite of these demerits, the film hits a stride when it embraces its farcical tendencies. Nowhere is this more evident than in a bonkers subplot involving Brantley and his uncle’s wife Vera (Margaret Whitton), a sexually frustrated vamp hell-bent on seducing him at every turn. We can bypass the silliness because Whitton, with her awful bird’s nest hairstyle, is fully committed and has good comedic chemistry with Fox. Less successful is the one he shares with Helen Slater. The actress looks appropriately beautiful as Brantley’s love interest, but she is less adept at executing the physical schtick.

“Oh Yeah,” the popular 1985 single by Yellow, features prominently in two sequences, in both cases serving as a sort of theme music for Vera. The first of these is a tawdry seduction in a limousine. Much more effective and memorable is a nighttime bedroom romp involving multiple characters sneaking around a house trying to climb into each other’s beds. Beyond the use of the song, it works because acclaimed film editor Paul Hirsch (Carrie, Mission: Impossible, and an Oscar-winner for Star Wars) makes it a showstopper. The sequence serves to further indicate that the movie would have been better off had Ross treated it entirely like a straight-up farce.

Unsurprisingly, the picture features music and songs that pin it to its time period. The soundtrack includes tunes by Bananarama, Pat Benatar, Katrina and the Waves, Roger Daltrey, and Night Ranger. Legendary producer and songwriter David Foster is credited not only as Music Supervisor, but also wrote the songs recorded by Night Ranger and Daltrey. 

In hindsight, one of the more interesting aspects of the film is the inclusion of notable acting talent in small roles. Among these are future Academy Award-winner Mercedes Ruehl as a waitress, Fred Gwynne (The Munsters) as a tycoon, and Mark Margolis (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) in a brief turn as a maintenance man. Supermodel Cindy Crawford also features in a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo.

When all is said and done, however, the movie’s gamble rests first and foremost on the shoulders of Fox. Always a good physical comic, the script allows him to play to this strength on multiple occasions. A highlight and great example of this involves Brantley’s need to constantly switch back and forth between a business suit and his mailroom outfit, often with hilarious results. The actor’s pint size works to its favor, not just in this, but also to further enhance the disparity of the situation in this environment. There is no doubt that Fox gives it his all and tries to sell it at every turn. Sometimes that is simply the most obvious way to achieve success. And it need not be a secret. 

The Secret of My Success is streaming on Netflix through April 30.