Product: Doc Hollywood [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 5.0
A wonderful, immensely entertaining film
Too often, Hollywood directors seem to forget that cinematic success comes in the form of great characters. Doc Hollywood, though, is one of those films that proves the rule. This movie is chock full of great characters, even in some of the smallest of roles - and it's not just the people, for the small town in which the story takes place is quite a character unto itself. The town of Grady is sort of an updated version of Mayberry - idyllic, of course, but nonetheless charming and evocative. It's the kind of place you can only find in the South.Of course, Dr. Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) has blinders on when he first arrives. Having just left the hustle and bustle (and blood) of a large D.C. hospital, he's on his way to La La Land in hopes of snagging a cushy job in the lucrative practice of cosmetic surgery. On his cross-country drive, he gets as far as South Carolina before fate steps in, leaving Stone temporarily stuck in the small town of Grady with a banged-up sports car and a judge's sentence of thirty-two hours of community medical service. Grady is in great need of a new doctor to replace the aging Dr. Hogue (Barnard Hughes), and everyone in town (well, almost everyone) - from the mayor (David Ogden Stiers) to the official welcoming committee of ladies and on down to the local farmers - makes no bones about their hopes of enticing him to stay. Even the glory of the annual squash festival can't do much to equal the scales, though, as California promises fortune and excitement, while a practice in Grady promises only a barely decent salary and quiet, country living. Predictably, though, Stone finds love - or at least the prospect for love - with the local ambulance driver. He and Lou (Julie Warner), a single mother and aspiring law student, engage in a lot of mutual flirtation, but she quickly becomes something much more than a mere conquest for Stone, which makes his decision whether to stay in Grady or snatch the gold ring in California much more difficult than he ever would have thought.With the help of a fantastic cast, Grady quickly begins to feel a lot like home for the viewer. With just a little interaction here and there, you really come to know a vast number of people - the mayor, the local mechanic, the judge, old Doc Hogue, the implacable Nurse Packer, the illiterate family who depends on the doc to read them the family letters they receive, and the list just goes on. Two of the faces are particularly recognizable: Woody Harrelson plays Lou's would-be suitor, and Bridget Fonda (whom I have long adored, despite the fact that she's a Fonda) plays the mayor's daughter, a young lady who longs for the bright lights of a big city. David Ogden Stiers, I have to say, is just wonderful as the mayor; he's the exact antithesis of the Bostonian intellectual he played for so many years on M*A*S*H. I can't say that all of these actors and actresses sounded all that Southern, but it's not their fault that they weren't lucky enough to be born here in the South.You might be thinking this sounds like just another story about a city slicker won over by the charms of small-town living. Doc Hollywood could easily have been just another boring version of an old story, but this film has a special quality that turns it into so much more than a predictable comedy. Thanks to nuanced directing, rich storytelling, and wonderful acting, more than a few of these characters have a remarkable depth that you pick up on very quickly. Grady isn't just a town; it's a way of life, with a genuineness you don't often find in any kind of film. Stone's ultimate decision does not come down to anything as simple as romance vs. money. Certainly, his feelings for Lou are deep and genuine, but the town of Grady and all of her citizens sing a siren song of love that Stone hears, as well. As for that ending, it doesn't play out exactly in the manner you might expect, and that's just one more reason to love this wonderful movie.