So much average

Pretty Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I remember seeing this in the theaters with my parents and a friend when I was little. Boy, do I remember! I was 6 years old (1991-1985=6) apparently, but I'll never forget that moment when I first noticed a totally naked Julie Warner on the massive movie screen. My parents obviously didn't want me to see an R-rated flick so they took us to see Doc Hollywood, only PG-13, may be a little risque but surely nothing too bad. Well, it was a lot risque, and it was surely something too good! At 6, I certainly was not expecting it when Julie Warner busted out of the lake totally naked and started walking right towards Michael J. Fox, at which point in the movie theater I definitely let out a huge gawking sound, like, 'UGGHH', that I think the whole theater heard. I think I was trying to breathe, but Julie Warner just wasn't letting that happen. She then chats up MJF totally wet and totally bare chested for like 30 seconds. 'You can blink now.' Thank you, Julie. What I remember after the movie was over, is as we were all walking out to the parking lot, my parents were asking us about what our favorite part was and my dad made a joke about how he thinks the entire theater already knows my favorite part. Funny guy, he was right, and it still is.

I've never been a fan of Romantic Comedies but this is in another league altogether. The plot, characters, quirky humour and of course Michael J.Fox set it apart from other films of a similar type. Fox plays arrogant, money obsessed ER doctor Ben Stone, who finds himself stranded in a small rural town after he accidentally crashes into the local Judge's fence. He is sentenced to 36 hours community service at the local practice and it isn't long before he meets sexy ambulance driver Vialula (Lou) played by Julie Warner, and gradually he starts to realise that love, friends, and community spirit are more important than the material things in life. It's an highly enjoyable feel-good film that's sweet and humorous without been sugary or over the top. The plot is nice and simple and basically depends on Fox's charisma and likability to hold it together, which he's more than capable of doing, and he's surrounded by a great bunch of co-stars for support.Warner in particular is great and makes a great love interest for him. She's sexy and feisty, and they both make their characters' interaction and gradual relationship believable. And the scene where they dance to Patsy Cline's Crazy is touching. It's an heart-warming and funny film.

Doc Hollywood is a film purpose built to allow Michael J Fox to be likable (if a little smug) in quirky surroundings, it also has some bizarre inexplicable nudity that is odd in what would otherwise be a PG 13 family flick.Fox is Ben Stone, a young hotshot surgeon waylaid momentarily in the sleepy small town of Grady ("Squash capital of the South!") on the way to LA to apply for a more cushy yet higher paid job as a plastic surgeon… he also plans to learn to surf.But alas for Stone a fence related automobile accident lands him in trouble, 32 hours of community service as the local doctor's replacement trouble.Now Stone is temporarily locum-ing for a cantankerous long time local doc who is laid up, and while the local townsfolk lay out the red carpet the staff of the hospital do not. The matron is particularly unsociable and by the book, and the ambulance driver Lou – who never gets a job for the duration of the film – is matter of fact once she realises that Stone is merely temping.Now it should be mentioned that Lou (Julie Warner) is a lady, she is also responsible for the inexplicable nudity earlier on. She twigs pretty quickly that Stone sees her as 'something to do' while he is in town and spurns his every smarmy advance. A bet with a local only serves to increase Stone's wooing two-fold.Meanwhile another local vacuous Paris-like gold digger played by Bridget Fonda is openly willing to do anything in order to get out of town and sees Stone as a well presented, four foot 6 ticket out of town.What follows is the typical quirky fare that seem to populate these films while the formerly arrogant and single-minded lead character learns where he truly belongs. He is given a pig in lieu of payment for his services, has various amusing adventures and encounters with patients and locals including Woody Harrelson as a rival suitor for Lou's affections… and all the while the local pageant and highlight of the year is a comin'.This is entirely formulaic fare, but dammit Michael J Fox was just so damn likable at this time of his career that it is hard to… well… not like him in this. And because he is the guy on the poster and there are enough cute moments (and unexpected nudity) along the way it makes Doc Hollywood difficult to hate.Even with all that said this was a 5.5 until the final minute or so, in a scene set in LA someone asks "Is that a star?" and Woody Harrelson's character replies offscreen "No, that's Ted Danson". For some reason that cracked me up so much that I was still chuckling half way through the credits.If getting the ending right is half the battle in a film that 5 second exchange nailed it for me, and pushed Doc Hollywood up to a "Worthwhile" 6. And if I'm wrong then it's just a harmless and likable unambitious flick with a bit of tit, and that's not bad either.Final Rating – 6 / 10. Not much to recommend, but nothing much to put you off watching it either.

Ambitious yuppie doctor Ben Stone (a supremely assured and affable performance by Michael J. Fox) completes his internship at a Washington hospital and rushes off to Los Angeles for a cushy high-paying job as a plastic surgeon. En route to California Ben finds himself stranded in the quaint small South Carolina hamlet of Grady, where he's forced to do 32 hours worth of community service. Ben plans on leaving town as soon as possible, but has second thoughts after meeting feisty and fetching ambulance driver Lou (a delightfully spunky portrayal by the deliciously lissome Julie Warner). Director Michael Caton-Jones, working from an amiable script by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seamon and Daniel Pyne, keeps the pace bubbling along at a steady clip, gives the picture a gentle, folksy charm that never becomes too corny or sappy, maintains a pleasant, good-natured tone throughout, and displays a sincere affection for the colorful and likable salt-of-the-earth rural characters. Fox's ingratiating presence keeps the movie humming from start to finish; he receives fine support from Warner (her nude skinny-dipping introductory scene is a genuinely sexy corker), Woody Harrelson as shrewd, dashing life insurance salesman Hank Gordon, David Ogden Steirs as hearty, jolly Mayor Nick Nicholson, Barnard Hughes as cranky veteran physician Dr. Aurelius Hugue, Bridget Fonda as aggressively flirtatious man-hungry tramp Nancy Lee Nicholson, Frances Sternhagen as sour old maid Lillian, Roberts Blossom as crusty Judge Evans, Mel Winkler as laid-back, gregarious Melvin the Mechanic, and Eyde Byrde as stern, by-the-book Nurse Packer. George Hamilton contributes an amusing cameo as hotshot plastic surgeon Dr. Halberstrom. Michael Chapman's sunny cinematography gives the film an attractive sparkling look. Carter Burwell provides a tuneful, jaunty, countryish score. A sweet little winner.