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.

Watching "Doc Hollywood", I was happily reminded of "Local Hero". Not that they're sharing the same plot, but both feature a young main character sent-to/stranded in a baffling small town, and bot have comparable levels of warmth in each story. Here, it's Michael J. Fox sentenced to community service in a one- pig hamlet. And that folksy fascism slowly becomes endearing quirk as he starts to get attached. These situations bring out the comedic side of this romcom, but it's the scenes he shares with (the utterly winsome) Julie Warner that really suck you in. Their (hesitantly budding) relationship is mature, develops organically, and I have nothing negative to say about it. Or the movie overall, for that matter. It's charming, sweet, and beautifully populated by the right character actors. This is my kinda romance.7/10

The summary line is not meant to be dismissive of this show. It's merely saying that the elements of this film was,to my viewing,more perfect for a continuing story instead of a finite,80/90 minute framing.Another "Fish-out-of-Water" story: Dr.Benjamin Stone(Michael J.Fox),still as pitch-perfect,quasi-yuppiesque yet charming as ever,in what would eventually prove to be a bit of a last hurrah of his film appeal from "Back to the Future")is a rising success as a young doctor/surgeon in a large,east coast city(I cannot immediately recall the city;I want to say Washington D.C. or Philadelphia)who is out to interview for a prestigious opening at a high dollar medical practice in Los Angeles. Instead of taking a simple,six hour(roughly)flight to the coast,the good doctor decides to drive there. If you're on this site and/or familiar with this movie at all,you're probably not in any need of prompting as to just how plot shifting THAT decision will be.Upon wrecking property in a charming and unapologetically hayseed hamlet of the the deep south(they seemed to mention or hint at it being Georgia)named Grady,Dr.Stone is stranded in this town for the better part of two weeks,both as part of a sentence and because his car is in desperate need of work. There,he meets practically all of the locals,and his initial annoyance with their culture melts into acceptance and even fondness,crowned by his interest in a pretty,headstrong young single mom(Julie Warner)who herself is studying to become a lawyer.One of the many forays into American culture for Scottish-born director Michael Caton-Jones,this marked sort of a twilight in Mr.Fox's once nearly automatic career as a charming,leading man matinée draw(a period that would extend from 1985 thru 1993).Though he would continue to make front-line movies after this,this would mark the last of the healthy,carefree young adult movies that is and will always be remembered for. Soon after this film wrapped,Fox discovered and was soon officially diagnosed with Parkinsons. On top of this,his overidentifiablity from his earlier success made it far more difficult to copy this formula in future works(Life With Mikey,For Love or Money and Greedy were all VERY coolly received),and thus put him at the point of trying supporting work(An American President)and television ("Spin City"). What might be equally eye-opening(besides the choice smaller roles that might've come off as almost cameo-like from then rising stars Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda,as restless locals)was the not-tapped enough charm of Miss Warner as the love interest or the fine,unaccalimed bow of Barnard Huges and David Ogden Stiers as the town's incumbent doctor and mayor,respectively.A charming,likable show that,if it is able to successfully draw in the viewer,might leave said viewer left wanting perhaps to get more out of this story and these characters. A missed opportunity at more,perhaps.

In Doc Hollywood young Michael J. Fox having completed his residency looks like he has his future by the short hairs. He's going into plastic surgery, much money to be made there and nobody dies. Usually the only thing that approaches a dearth in fatality like that is dermatology. But a traffic jam on I-95 and a couple of stray cows on the back road he's traveling gets him into a gentle jackpot of an accident. It just happens that he plowed into a freshly put up fence by the local judge Roberts Blossom.For the first offense in the town of Grady, Florida Fox is given community service in the local hospital where crotchety old doctor Barnard Hughes is ready to pack it in. In their own hospitable ways the good citizens of Grady set out to make the man Hughes calls, Doc Hollywood welcome. There's one particular citizen played by Julie Warner who wants to offer the ultimate in hospitality even though her ever present steady boyfriend Woody Harrelson is around.In many ways Doc Hollywood is an updated version of the Paramount classic Welcome Stranger with Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, and Joan Caulfield. In that one however, the town folks don't take to city boy Bing right away, here they're going out of their way to make Fox welcome as they know that Hughes will not be there forever.One of the really nice things about Doc Hollywood is the impeccable casting of some of the rustic characters you might find in the Florida wilds. Two of the best are Eyde Byrde as Nurse Packer who runs the hospital like a drill sergeant, a kinder, gentler and black version of nurse Ratched. And it took me a while to realize the actor playing the rustic southern mayor was David Ogden Stiers, formerly Charles Emerson Winchester of Hahvard and the 4077 MASH unit. For those who best remember Stiers as Major Winchester, this performance will come as a very pleasant shock.If you saw Welcome Stranger than you have a good idea of how Doc Hollywood turns out. I think it was one of the best films of the previous decade, a pleasant and gentle diversion of entertainment.