"Bright Lights, Big City" bears a simple premise - Michael J. Fox spends his nights in drug-fueled debauchery while his day-to-day slowly implodes - and I have to admit, I was expecting something a bit closer to "Less Than Zero". But this is less about his abuse and more about the consequences: the dismal job performance, the marriage in ruins. There's real sadness here (like seeing him pour out his heart to his secretary (Swoosie Kurtz) - but it's never harrowing. And it's a pretty good vehicle for Fox to play completely against type. More often than not, he's surviving the damage from the night before and he does it well. He makes it easy to root for sobriety.
7/10
7/10