Doc Hollywood (1991)

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones. Starring Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Woody Harrelson, Bridget Fonda, Barnard Hughes, David Ogden Stiers, Frances Sternhagen, Eyde Byrde, Mel Winkler, Roberts Blossom. [PG-13]

Predictable and contrived comedy vehicle casts Fox as a young doctor from the big city who completed his residency and is now headed out to the West Coast to become a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. During the cross-country drive, however, he gets stranded in the “buckle of the Bible Belt,” forced into doing community service as a small-town physician where he meets the stereotypical eccentrics, sheds some of his “city slicker” prejudices, walks a pig (not a euphemism), and falls for one of the locals (Warner). Think “Frank Capra’s ‘Northern Exposure’” and you’re at least halfway there. It’s relatively painless and overwhelmingly obvious; hearty laughs are in short supply, but the cast shows pluck and the romance is pleasant enough. At the very least, Warner rates a memorable entrance. This was the film that Fox shot shortly after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. George Hamilton cameos near the end.

56/100