Highly Overrated But Still Good

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I've been a fan of Roger Ebert's movie reviews, and how he's used the term "idiot plot" to describe a situation where the problem in the movie would be immediately solved if the characters weren't total idiots. "Secret of my success" has an "idiot plot" but there's also a lot of good amusing fun in the movie too. And some good 80s music. Not everyone likes 80s styles and music. I like it because the 80s were where a lot of my young memories are from. Anyway, Brantly (Michael J. Fox) has come to New York with what he thought was a secure job position waiting for him, but he gets there being abruptly sent away by the big business company owner telling him "hostile takeover, 75% employees got the ax, including you!" Brantly is left stranded, so he goes from company to company being dismissed again and again. We get a good look at fast, impatient, unsympathetic New York attitudes. Brantly then gets a job at his very distant uncle's firm. By very distant, I meant that Prescott, his so called uncle didn't even know he existed until he walked into his office begging for a job. Prescott reluctantly gives him a job. In the mailroom. Brantley is told "you can't even get paroled out of the mailroom", and " never interact with the suits" by his fellow mailroom co worker. A suit, by their definition, is a higher up, white collar, office and desk, more comfortable lifestyle job position that seems forever hopelessly out of reach for the mailboy. A suit is a job where you will be able to afford a nice NY apartment that's not tiny, squalid, full of rats and roaches, and in a high crime building. A suit is a job where you'll be able to dine in NY's good restaurants and not continuously live off NY hotdog stands or other cheap holes in the wall. A suit is a job where you are not looked down on and will get respect. From people that matter. A suit at a Wall street company is a life not obtainable unless you already have at least several years of white collar business work experience, preferably from somewhere else in New York City. I remember reading once that to get a white collar job at a major New York company, you need to first spend some time working a white collar job at a less major New York company, and then get a glowing reference from the less major company in order for any chance at the white collar position at the major company, otherwise known as a suit. Not only did Brantly not have any white collar experience at a less good company, but he had no work experience period. Just college. All Brantly could get was blue collar mail room. He did not have the time or patience to start climbing up all those rungs. There was only one thing for him to do, he finds his way to fake his way to appear that he is a suit.Brantly gives himself a phony name (Whitfield), and sets up the works to where all of the suits thinks that Brantly is Whitfield. He manages to get himself a secretary and an office with his name (Whitfield) on the door. He starts going to the boardmeetings with the "other" suits and BS ing his way through them. He starts hooking up with pretty female suit (Helen Slater) who would've never given him the time of day as mailboy. He must keep constantly hiding from Prescott though, who knows that Brantly is Brantly, who would obviously blow his cover. And he must keep dodging his jerk mailroom boss, who for obvious reasons cannot see Brantly in action pulling his charade with the suits. If all of this sounds a little unbelievable, it's that it is. It's the idiot plot that Roger Ebert has talked about. In real life, anyone with half a brain would've figured out what's really going on long before the people in this movie do. Real life NY office building "suits" would've seen through Brantley's game right away. This movie did give a realistic glimpse of NY office workers until Brantly started his charade. Then, they became about 100 miles off. A total fantasy world. And what was the deal with "Aunt" Vera having the hots for Brantly? I guess that she wasn't really his aunt since "uncle" Prescott didn't even know Brantly until his arrival in NY.But in spite of those few issues, this movie had some nice fun moments too. I sorta liked the addition of that miserable, sour balding guy with the noticeable circles under his eyes who played Uncle Frank in the "Home Alone" movies, who was here as one of the leading suits. I rate this movie about a 6.5. Its not good enough to be a 7.0, but better than a 6.0, but I had to round it off. And like I said, I liked the 80s styles and energy, so I'll give it a 7.

The movie wasn't really that good to me. I don't think a man could ever go into an non-owned office and go ahead and take control of it without being hired. The movie is just nothing, but people cheating on each other and a form of incest which made me very uncomfortable to watch this movie. In-laws or not it is not okay to mess with your in-laws. This movie was absolutely ridiculous to me. I just don't like old school movies from older times. I was trying to keep an open mind, but to me the movie was not that great, and neither was the acting. In conclusion, anything like this to get filmed again in the future should be a lot more realistic and possibly have better music in the film. The music and plots was just flat out insane.

Michael J. Fox had a string of successes in the 1980s, "The Secret of My Success" among them. He plays a young college graduate from Kansas who tries hard--very hard--to succeed in the cutthroat world of New York business. Fox played a standard character in his movies of this period, that of a young, somewhat naïve guy with a heart of gold and who succeeds despite long odds. Here, he works his way up to the corporate boardroom by living a double life and trying hard to impress his stuffed-shirt co-workers.Richard Jordan plays Howard Prescott, the snarling, autocratic CEO of the company, and Helen Slater plays a young executive to which Fox's character is instantly attracted. Fox's limitless charisma and Jordan's superlative acting keep this movie from sinking fast--without them, this film would have rolled over and died. It's worth watching and has a few good (if somewhat childish) laughs, but Fox and Jordan are the whole show.

'The Secret of My Success' is classic 80's cinema, with an incredible performance by one of my favorite actors, M.J Fox. I remember the 80's euphoria, as I am an Indian, I lived in India... I remember Mithun dancing in his hit films, and loving him. M.J Fox was another kid-favorite. Watching this film, just makes me go back in time and jump! 'The Secret Of My Success' is about M.J Fox, who comes to make it big in New York City, and then begins his youthful journey, which is FUN! The ambitious kid inside you, the confidence to conquerer the World, the believe, you become Brantley Foster from the very start. And the series of events he goes through are so memorable. I just love this film! Herbert Ross's direction is fantastic. Jim Cash's screenplay is full of fun! Carlo Di Palma's Cinematography, like always, is striking. Paul Hirsch's editing is crisp.M.J Fox is an Icon. I've always loved him, be it this film, the Back To The Future series or Teen Wolf. He is a magical actor, who's simply lovable. Helen Slater is the only performer, who stands up to M.J Fox and delivers a very likable performance.On the whole, This is simply, 80's and M.J Fox at their best! From this fan, Two Big Thumbs Up!