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Redundant and unnecessary.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Star-vehicle for Michael J. Fox is a curiously flat comedy straight off the assembly-line. While on his way to California to practice plastic surgery on the Hollywood stars, a doctor gets stuck in a backwater town and quickly becomes smitten with the uneducated yokels residing there--hicks deemed lovable by virtue of their unspoiled lives. Another ridiculous attempt to sentimentalize the rural, homespun way of life by pitting it against the dirty and corrupt Big City. Three screenwriters, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman and Daniel Pyne (working from Laurian Leggett's adaptation of Neil B. Shulman's book "What?...Dead Again?"), deliver us a valentine to Hicktown, USA. Fox, looking bloated and sleepy, struggles valiantly through it; supporting players Woody Harrelson and Frances Sternhagen manage to give the stereotypical humor a little juice.

I really enjoyed this movie. Essentially, "Dr. Ben Stone" (Michael J. Fox) is a promising young surgeon who, after two years in the emergency room at Washington Presbyterian Hospital, has his heart set on a cushy job doing cosmetic surgery in Beverly Hills. As he begins his drive from the East Coast to California he happens to have an automobile accident in the small town of Grady, South Carolina. Unfortunately for him, his accident demolishes the picket fence belonging to "Judge Evans" (Roberts Blossom) and he gets sentenced to perform 32 hours of medical care for reckless driving. In no time at all the sly mayor of Grady, "Nick Nicholson" (David Ogden Stiers) is leading a campaign to get Dr. Stone to take up permanent residency. What follows is a funny yet wistful story that involves a bunch of amusing characters. I really enjoyed the performances of both Michael J. Fox and David Ogden Stiers. Also quite amusing was the mechanic named "Melvin" (Mel Winkler) and "Nurse Packer" (Eyde Byrde). Along with that, both "Vialula" (Julie Warner) and "Nancy Lee Nicholson" (Bridget Fonda) were quite pleasing to the eye as well. In short, for a romantic-comedy this one is definitely above average.

The summary line is not meant to be dismissive of this show. It's merely saying that the elements of this film was,to my viewing,more perfect for a continuing story instead of a finite,80/90 minute framing.Another "Fish-out-of-Water" story: Dr.Benjamin Stone(Michael J.Fox),still as pitch-perfect,quasi-yuppiesque yet charming as ever,in what would eventually prove to be a bit of a last hurrah of his film appeal from "Back to the Future")is a rising success as a young doctor/surgeon in a large,east coast city(I cannot immediately recall the city;I want to say Washington D.C. or Philadelphia)who is out to interview for a prestigious opening at a high dollar medical practice in Los Angeles. Instead of taking a simple,six hour(roughly)flight to the coast,the good doctor decides to drive there. If you're on this site and/or familiar with this movie at all,you're probably not in any need of prompting as to just how plot shifting THAT decision will be.Upon wrecking property in a charming and unapologetically hayseed hamlet of the the deep south(they seemed to mention or hint at it being Georgia)named Grady,Dr.Stone is stranded in this town for the better part of two weeks,both as part of a sentence and because his car is in desperate need of work. There,he meets practically all of the locals,and his initial annoyance with their culture melts into acceptance and even fondness,crowned by his interest in a pretty,headstrong young single mom(Julie Warner)who herself is studying to become a lawyer.One of the many forays into American culture for Scottish-born director Michael Caton-Jones,this marked sort of a twilight in Mr.Fox's once nearly automatic career as a charming,leading man matinée draw(a period that would extend from 1985 thru 1993).Though he would continue to make front-line movies after this,this would mark the last of the healthy,carefree young adult movies that is and will always be remembered for. Soon after this film wrapped,Fox discovered and was soon officially diagnosed with Parkinsons. On top of this,his overidentifiablity from his earlier success made it far more difficult to copy this formula in future works(Life With Mikey,For Love or Money and Greedy were all VERY coolly received),and thus put him at the point of trying supporting work(An American President)and television ("Spin City"). What might be equally eye-opening(besides the choice smaller roles that might've come off as almost cameo-like from then rising stars Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda,as restless locals)was the not-tapped enough charm of Miss Warner as the love interest or the fine,unaccalimed bow of Barnard Huges and David Ogden Stiers as the town's incumbent doctor and mayor,respectively.A charming,likable show that,if it is able to successfully draw in the viewer,might leave said viewer left wanting perhaps to get more out of this story and these characters. A missed opportunity at more,perhaps.

Ambitious yuppie doctor Ben Stone (a supremely assured and affable performance by Michael J. Fox) completes his internship at a Washington hospital and rushes off to Los Angeles for a cushy high-paying job as a plastic surgeon. En route to California Ben finds himself stranded in the quaint small South Carolina hamlet of Grady, where he's forced to do 32 hours worth of community service. Ben plans on leaving town as soon as possible, but has second thoughts after meeting feisty and fetching ambulance driver Lou (a delightfully spunky portrayal by the deliciously lissome Julie Warner). Director Michael Caton-Jones, working from an amiable script by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seamon and Daniel Pyne, keeps the pace bubbling along at a steady clip, gives the picture a gentle, folksy charm that never becomes too corny or sappy, maintains a pleasant, good-natured tone throughout, and displays a sincere affection for the colorful and likable salt-of-the-earth rural characters. Fox's ingratiating presence keeps the movie humming from start to finish; he receives fine support from Warner (her nude skinny-dipping introductory scene is a genuinely sexy corker), Woody Harrelson as shrewd, dashing life insurance salesman Hank Gordon, David Ogden Steirs as hearty, jolly Mayor Nick Nicholson, Barnard Hughes as cranky veteran physician Dr. Aurelius Hugue, Bridget Fonda as aggressively flirtatious man-hungry tramp Nancy Lee Nicholson, Frances Sternhagen as sour old maid Lillian, Roberts Blossom as crusty Judge Evans, Mel Winkler as laid-back, gregarious Melvin the Mechanic, and Eyde Byrde as stern, by-the-book Nurse Packer. George Hamilton contributes an amusing cameo as hotshot plastic surgeon Dr. Halberstrom. Michael Chapman's sunny cinematography gives the film an attractive sparkling look. Carter Burwell provides a tuneful, jaunty, countryish score. A sweet little winner.