Bright Lights, Big City

Jamie Conway is a young man in New York who hoped to become a writer but instead works checking facts for a magazine. His life comes apart in a short span: his wife, a model, has left for Paris and wants a divorce, and he loses his job. He numbs himself with alcohol and cocaine and is haunted by memories of his mother, who died of cancer a year earlier. His friend Tad, a hard-drinking socializer, tries to pull him out of his gloom, introducing him to his sister and dragging him through the city's nightlife — though every night out leads to a harsh morning after. The film is based on Jay McInerney's novel, with McInerney himself writing the screenplay.

James Bridges directed the film, his fourth feature after The China Syndrome, Urban Cowboy and Perfect. Michael J. Fox plays Jamie, with Kiefer Sutherland as Tad, Phoebe Cates as Amanda, Swoosie Kurtz as Megan, Frances Sternhagen as Clara and Tracy Pollan as Vicky; the credited cast runs to seventy names. The production, backed by United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Mirage Enterprises and Star Partners, had a budget of 25 million US dollars and grossed 16 million worldwide, so it did not recover its cost at the box office.

On IMDb it holds a rating of 5.7 from around 9,700 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 5.7 from 144 votes, indicating a modest and broadly similar reception from both audiences.