The Secret of My Success

Directed by Herbert Ross

At the USA Charles

Power. Money. Sex.

Brantley Foster wants it all. And gets it.

Aspiring CEOs will delight in the fast-paced corporate odyssey of Michael J. Fox, who stars as Brantley Foster in The Secret of My Success. The film resembles a financial fantasy from the mind of Alex P. Keaton, Fox's Family Ties character, with Brantley blasting up the corporate ladder in a relative nanosecond. With creativity as his only asset, Brantley parlays his way from the mailroom to the boardroom of his uncle's conglomerates.

The movie traces Foster's coming of age as he emerges from the security of his parent's Kansas farm into the middle of a shootout on the streets of New York City and, eventually, into the seductive claws of his nymphomaniac aunt. She's not the only one warm for Fox's form, though. Beautiful blond heads begin to turn the moment Foster alights from his Manhattan-bound bus.

Born of the same teen fantasy-come-true world as Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Risky Business, Fox's latest showcases an enterprising young man who can turn the world on its side and hurdle any obstacle with humor and flair. Fox's wide-eyed enthusiasm quickly wins the audience over and he gives his character more dimensions than do the pin-ups of him in teen magazines.

But unlike the male protagonists in other successful teen movies who combine youthful awkwardness with quick wit and charm, Brantley is too perfect. If he had been born in midtown Manhattan he wouldn't be more at home in The City--and we're supposed to believe he's never lived off the farm. Brantley should have been played as an innocent idealist thrown into the wild den of Wall Street.

So instead of a farmboy's quest for career maturity, the movie is more a day in the life of a working Boy Wonder. Yuppies could take notes on Foster's business sense as he pours over corporate reports, works late nights, and brashly persuades stodgy, old executives into backing his bold initiatives. He is even a swift jogger in a coat and tie.

Brantley, in fact, is such a powerhouse that he overwhelms his partner in success, Christie Wills, who, ironically enough, is played by former Supergirl and current Fox flame Helen Slater. When Brantley enters the business world as a mail clerk--and an inexperienced one, at that--Christie already has worked her way up to a top level executive job. Christie is a hard-working financial wizard, and Harvard graduate, whose skill impressed businessmen more than did her femininity.

Until she started a love affair with Brantley, that is. From the moment the two start sleeping together, Slater's portrait of a successful working woman crumbles into the standard role of sexy sidekick. Instead of using her brains to save the company, Christie ends up kissing Brantley when he lands the CEO chair. She is reduced from a strong, sassy character into a one-dimensional sexual tool.

But the movie's other female lead shines as she combines a strong will with sexual overdrive. Margaret Whitton, who plays Brantley's Aunt Vera, is a zestful piranha with the perfect amount of evil allure and bawdy sexuality to make her attacks on Fox a high point of the movie. By her side, Brantley's uncle (Richard Jordan) fades in comparison, exuding unimpressive ill will.

In its tale of mail boy-disguised-as-executive, the movie gives a creative twist to the usual rags-to-riches tale. And this determined implausibility is the real secret to Secret's success.