Terrific Easily worth it's ten

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2007)

I was surprised to learn that people thought this was the weak link in the series. It is perhaps the most delightful because of the addition of Mary Steenburgen, Doc's unexpected love interest.
She makes every film she's in a little special. Women could really take lessons on how she does it. Or maybe we'll never know. She played the same sort of role in Time After Time (1979). She's very formal, but because she's not the best looking person in any group of people, she lets it be known that she's very interested in letting the relationship go further. Give nothing, receive everything. Especially in the beginning. If ever there was a woman who represents the feminine mystique (or what men think of as the feminine mystique) it is embodied in Mary Steenburgen.
The characters she creates are intelligent, been around, knows what's happening, but always takes a chance because one time she's not going to be disappointed. Doc doesn't stand a chance: it's not only her intelligence. It's she.
Then there's Tannon. He would gladly rape Clara, but he would never succumb to her wiles. When "Mad Dog" (hope he never reads this -- he hates the name from anyone but his friends and I don't dance very well) wants to kill Doc at the dance, Marty throws a pie plate to spoil his aim. When Buford Tannon ("Mad Dog") issues his threat, he finds out he has such a busy itinerary of wrong doing that the soonest he can work it in is two days hence, first thing in the morning. It's a Mastercard Priceless moment.
Doc himself is his usual energetic goofy self, inventing things that raise absurdity to a new level. What makes him so funny is that he never tells a joke, would not understand one if it was told, and babbles scientific principles that exist only in his own mind -- certainly in no text I've ever read.
Michael J. Fox is just right for the part. Even his counterpart in 1885 Shames McFly from Ireland you understand is a scream on the screen and yet there seems to be nothing you could point to that would make him as appealing and humorous as he is other than to say Fox exudes charm the way a boyish teenage class president exudes charm.
This is a film worth spending a couple of hours with. Enjoy its enthusiasm and good humor. I think it is by far the best of the three.