There's no such thing as an overnight success. Brantley Foster took two weeks.
Overview
Brantley Foster, a well-educated kid from Kansas, has always dreamed of making it big in New York, but once in New York, he learns that jobs - and girls - are hard to get. When Brantley visits his uncle, Howard Prescott, who runs a multi-million-dollar company, he is given a job in the company's mail room.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.4/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 46%
Metacritic: 36
TMDB: 6.5/10
Director
Herbert Ross
Production
Universal Pictures, Rastar Productions
Cast
Michael J. Fox, Helen Slater, Richard Jordan, Margaret Whitton, John Pankow, Christopher Murney, Gerry Bamman, Fred Gwynne, Carol Ann Susi, Elizabeth Franz, Drew Snyder, Susan Kellermann, Barton Heyman, Mercedes Ruehl, Ira Wheeler, Ashley J. Laurence, Rex Robbins, Christopher Durang, MacIntyre Dixon, Bill Fagerbakke
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, very 1980s corporate-comedy fantasy with Michael J. Fox’s easy charm and a fast-moving underdog premise. It’s fun if you want neon, montages, and broad wish-fulfillment, but the plotting is flimsy and the sexual politics are dated enough to be distracting.
Best for
fans of breezy 80s studio comedies
viewers who like Michael J. Fox as an underdog lead
people in the mood for fashion, synths, and workplace wish-fulfillment
Skip if
you’re sensitive to outdated gender politics or incest-adjacent farce
you want sharp satire or airtight comedy writing
you prefer grounded workplace stories over glossy fantasy
Overview
The Secret of My Success is pure late-80s corporate fantasy: a small-town kid lands in Manhattan, games the system, and gets a neon-lit makeover on the way to the top. Herbert Ross keeps it moving, and Michael J. Fox gives the movie the kind of buoyant, can-do energy that makes even the silliest turns feel watchable.
Worth noting
What lingers most is the style. This is a slick, synthetic, montage-heavy time capsule, full of shoulder pads, saxophone swells, and a very specific idea of ambition as performance. It’s easy to see why some viewers call it a vaporwave artifact: the movie looks and feels like a commercial for 1987.
Bottom line
The downside is that the script leans hard on broad farce and some deeply awkward sexual humor that hasn’t aged well. If you’re here for Fox’s charisma and the era’s glossy excess, there’s enough charm to justify the ride. If you want smarter satire or cleaner comedy, it’s more of a curiosity than a classic.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (2.5★) · 524 likes
So it turns out the secret of his success is…he fucked his aunt?
saffron (4★) · 362 likes
this is, without a doubt, the most eighties movie I have ever seen in my life. there are about twenty montages and there’s a saxophone playing for nearly half the runtime. it is glorious.
Matt Singer (2.5★) · 235 likes
Not without its charms, but if someone tried to make this movie today they would be arrested and sent to The Hague.
Justin LaLiberty (3★) · 212 likes
Just two years after Michael J. Fox managed to avoid fucking his mom in Back to the Future, he ends up in bed with Aunt Vera in The Secret of My Success. Get it together, Mike!
JBird (2.5★) · 114 likes
Michael J. Fox just wants some Success,
But he just keeps making a mess.
The ladder he’ll climb,
Working full-time,
And maybe avoid some light incest.