Review of Doc Hollywood (1991) by Ben F — 15 Sep 2012

You come from a big city, get stuck in a small town, start to love it, settle down. That's the plot of a fair number of modern movies and it's become familiar enough that I sometimes play devil's advocate and root for the main character to say, "No thanks," and get high tail it to London, like Kate Beckinsale's Flora Post in "Cold Comfort Farm." There were a few moments in "Doc Hollywood" (1991) in which I wished Dr. Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) might choose that fate.

And yet for all that, I found the movie to be incredibly touching. Why? Part of the film's triumph belongs to Mr. Fox, who acts just as boyish as he did in "Back to the Future." Yet he's more bitter here. Playing a doctor volunteering in a small town, he often explodes with profane anger that cracks past his nasal mumbling.

Thankfully, his anger dissipates into other feelings--happiness, contentment, and romantic longing. And in the end as he gets to know the town, it changes as much as he does. It's filled with people who have their own contradictions that make them more than hick cartoons. The local ambulence driver might be a former NYC bartender, but that doesn't mean that she's dying to get out of the country or that she totally belongs in it either.

In the end, of course, "Doc Hollywood" travels to its expected destination--Dr. Stone discovers his rural happily ever after. But arrival of the known doesn't provoke a cynical sigh, but leaves feeling relieved, happy, and just a little sad after such a long, looping journey.

****:).