Bright Lights, Big City Reviews

Based on the popular novel by McInerney, this film adaptation of a story of cocaine-fueled yuppie angst finally came to the screen burdened with the mantle of "THE GRADUATE of the 80s." The novel's nameless protagonist is played here by Fox and is given a name, Jamie. By day, would-be novelist Fox is a fact checker for Gotham magazine; by night, he prowls chic, pulsing Manhattan dance clubs, often in the company of preppy wastrel Sutherland almost always enlivened by healthy doses of "Bolivian Marching Powder" (Jamie's euphemism for cocaine). As his life continues the LOST WEEKEND-like tailspin it entered when his wife (Cates) left him to pursue a modeling career, Fox must overcome the vicious self-destructive cycle. Although BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY isn't THE GRADUATE of the 80s, it is an entertaining film that shouldn't disappoint fans of the book. In remaining faithful to the novel, director-coscreenwriter Bridges has refused to allow his film to become a kind of sanitized "Say No to Drugs" spot. Bridges realized that without his cocaine habit, McInerney's protagonist would be both considerably less complex and significantly less representative of the lifestyle the book captured. Fox's performance is surprisingly assured; Sutherland is also convincing as his self-centered, dissipated, and snobbish best friend.