Michael J. Fox

Douglas Ireland is in one heck of a bind. Michael J. Fox (TV's Spin City) and Gabrielle Anwar (Scent of a Woman) star in this sparkling romantic comedy from the director of Men in Black and the producer of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. While he caters to the whims of the super-rich, Ireland (Fox) dreams of building his own luxury hotel and hopes that a wealthy but unscrupulous investor will help. there's one condition: Ireland must "baby-sit" the investor's beautiful young mistress (Anwar).

Can a kid from Kansas come to New York to conquer the business world and maneuver his way from the mailroom to the boardroom in a matter of weeks? Michael J. Fox proves it can be done in this very funny lampoon of corporate business life. Fresh out of college, he's determined to climb New York's corporate ladder in record time by masquerading as an up-and-coming executive, even though he's really the new mail boy. However, Fox's plans begin to go awry when the boss's wife falls in love with him and he falls in love with a junior executive, who also happens to be the boss's mistress.

Fulfilling a long-time fantasy, Doc Brown has decided to live in the Old West of the 1880s. But when he's in danger of meeting an untimely end, Marty travels back into the past to rescue him. There just one problem: Doc is so smitten by schoolteacher Clara Clayton (Mary Steenbergen) that he's become a little distracted. Now it's up to Marty to keep Doc out of trouble, get the DeLorean running, and put the past, present and future on track so they can all get back to where and when they belong.

Marty and Doc have barely recovered from their first time-traveling adventure when they launch themselves once more into the space-time continuum. But this time around, their attempt to fine tune the future in the year 2015 creates an outlandish, alternate Hill Valley where bully Biff Tannen is rich, powerful and Marty's dad! Now, their only chance to fix the present is by going back to 1955 all over again. But can Doc and Marty patch up the past without igniting a universe-shredding time paradox?

Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis topped his breakaway hit Romancing the Stone with Back to the Future, a joyous comedy with a dazzling hook: what would it be like to meet your parents in their youth? Billed as a special-effects comedy, the imaginative film (the top box-office smash of 1985) has staying power because of the heart behind Zemeckis and Bob Gale's script. High schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox, during the height of his TV success) is catapulted back to the '50s where he sees his parents in their teens, and accidentally changes the history of how Mom and Dad met.

What sounds like the high-concept romantic comedy pitch from hell--widower president falls for smart lobbyist while the world watches--is actually intelligent, charming, touching, and quite funny. Granted, it's wish fulfillment all the way (when was the last time you saw a president who was truly presidential?), but in the capable hands of writer Aaron Sorkin (TV's Sports Night) and director Rob Reiner, The American President is incredibly enjoyable entertainment with quite a few ideas about both romance and the government.