Life With Mikey

Honestly, there's a pretty good chance that you've never heard of this film. I'm pretty surprised that i know about it myself. However, my parents were big fans of Michael J Fox and therefore I got the pleasure of watching some of his work prior to him retiring from acting. Outside of Back to the Future, Life with Mikey was actually one of my favorite movies growing up.

So why am I not only watching it as an adult and critiquing it like an adult? Cause my childhood died many years ago that's why.

Life With Mikey stars Michael J Fox as a former child star who is now a talent agent with his brother (played by Nathan Lane). Now part of this movie always confused me. There are parts here and there in the movie where they're watching kids perform. Its cheesy, its for kids, whatever. I'm not totally sure if they're representing these kids or just watching a lot of auditions but if they're not representing them, why do these kids keep showing up?

But that's not the main story. Michael Chapman (Fox) is basically a hasbeen who is not serious about his job, lives off the fame his childhood job gave him, and overall isn't an incredibly straight and narrow person. Think BoJack Horseman. His brother puts up with him, for some reason, but is seriously considering closing the business if their luck doesn't turn around. They have one big client, a pretentious kid named Barry (played by the head elf from the Santa Claus movies for all you 90s people out there, David Krumholtz) but beyond that they have a bunch of kids who, to put it bluntly, have no talent.

Then Michael meets a young girl on the street who steals his wallet. Through a series of events, he sees her acting and decides that she has the chops to be represented and could make him and his brother a lot of money.

From this sprouts an unconventional relationship between Michael and this tom boy, Angie (played by Christina Vidal). You can tell from the beginning that she has a bad upbringing and she is something of a problem child. But Michael isn't a father and he makes that very clear to Angie and those around him.

They get her to audition for a cookie commercial, a gig that she actually gets and things go pretty well.

The problem with this film unfortunately lies in the relationship between Michael and Angie. Now I personally really like these two. They don't get along at the beginning, but more and more he breaks through her shell and the two become good friends. However, it doesn't quite reach the level that I think its suppose to, and there's also the whole deal of how its a little strange for a thirty year old man to house a ten year old girl just because he's her "agent". Probably wouldn't fly in this day and age.

But hey, the 90's were a different time.

Also, its Michael J Fox.

Something about the guy just makes you forget all the bad things you could ever hear about the man and just find him lovable. The interesting thing about his character is that he's still caught up in the fact that he was a celebrity when he was a child. That's his angle many times when he tries to get these kids jobs, he'll play off the fact that people really enjoyed him in the sitcom he was apart of.

Its an interesting take, especially with what I've seen actual child hood stars think about their careers. Usually they get agitated when people bring up their past work. Its movies like this that actually make me appreciate BoJack Horseman a little bit more because there are actually scenes where Michael is watching reruns of Life with Mikey, the TV show he was in.

I wish there had been a little bit more development on his part, of him kind of getting off his so called fame, and realizing he's something more, especially if its a role model to Angie. But hey, its a family flick, I didn't write it, I still love it, if not for nostalgia's sake.

Christina Vidal plays Angie. To be honest, this kid is a little bit of a snot. Its one thing that she actually kind of lifts a mirror on Michael and tries to make him a better person once they become friends.

But throughout the movie, her problems just seemed like angsty kid problems and were just her being a snot. Eventually there is kind of a breaking down of the tough girl persona and her and Michael really do get along. I can't say, looking back at it, that its a great dynamic between the two of them, however, there are some fun moments and I think its the fact that Michael cares for her, that you have no choice but to kind of care for her yourself. Maybe I'm being too nice because its more of a nostalgia thing with this movie, but I'm trying to be a little bit objective.

Some of the supporting characters are kind of funny. I never really understood why Nathan Lane's character really puts up with Fox's character. There's a lot of set up to Michael being this irresponsible guy and yet Lane's character doesn't really do anything about it. Their secretary is kind of funny, but not very memorable. And the rest of the cast is not really important to mention, beyond the kids at the talent agency who are kind of funny, but in the end you get kind of sick of the audition montage.

I like this movie mainly for the nostalgia sake of it. This is a movie that I watched with my family over and over and over again because Michael J Fox was entertaining. It was a fun little ride and highlighted a cute relationship between Fox and Vidal's characters.

Is it going to blow your mind? Unless you grew up with it like I did, probably not. But the movie has some funny lines, some memorable scenes, and just kind of gives you a fuzzy feeling at the, slightly over the top, and improbable ending.

Honestly, that's probably the biggest problem of the film. Nathan Lane is set on closing down the building and they listen to one last audition that needs to be their next big client. Now, I don't mean to be cruel, but the girl that they bring in is not bad, but she's also not incredible. She's a little bit better than most of the kids in the agency, but not by much. And the kids they have at the agency aren't suppose to be good. How this last ditch effort convinces Nathan Lane's character to keep the business open, is still beyond me. However, I still find this movie incredibly entertaining, I can still quote lines from it, and if you need a family film, its not a bad one to watch with young kids or just get a nostalgia trip of the 90s.

So those are my thoughts on Life With Mikey. Am I the only one who watched this movie as a kid? There has to be someone else who gets as much nostalgia as I do from this film. Comment and Discuss below! Also, shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter for news updates and movie reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Hopefully I gave a good enough description. Here's the actual trailer of the film. Enjoy!