Bright Lights, Big City (1988) review

Jamie Conway (Michael J. Fox) is employed by Gotham Magazine (which is supposed to be The New Yorker) as a fact checker but can't do his job properly because he's out all night partying and cannot get over his model wife Amanda (Phoebe Cates) leaving him or his mother (Dianne Wiest) passing away ... and there to encourage his worst behavior is his "friend" Tad Allagash (Kiefer Sutherland).  Novelist Jay McInerney worked on the adaptation of his "trendy" book (which was written in the second person) with director Bridges but, despite Fox's fresh-faced charm, it's an empty experience: he marches around the city loaded up on a combination of "Bolivian marching powder," wine and vodka and actively works on sabotaging his own life (which becomes tiresome), and two of the "off-beat" moments (one involving a "Coma Baby" and the other with an aggressive ferret) don't contribute much.  Even the ending is a disappointment, which implausibly suggests - after "trading in" his sunglasses for a loaf of bread - Jamie is on the road to recovery ... except what he actually needs is rehab (and lots of therapy).  There is a real-life silver lining, however: Fox married Tracy Pollan (who plays Vicky, Tad's sister), and she's stuck with him through his health-related problems: a supportive partner can be hard to locate.