Das Geheimnis meines Erfolges

by Martin Owens

Brantley Foster, a naive ambitious young man from the Midwest, journeys to Manhattan to seek his fortune and encounters business and romantic complications

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Sean Carlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the movie is, undeniably, a morally repugnant affirmation of Reagan-era materialistic ambition -- the antithesis of Oliver Stone's Wall Street, released the same year -- it's also, on another level, a supremely relatable story about youthful idealism and initiative, a spirit so perfectly embodied and conveyed by its likeable star, an at-his-peak Michael J. Fox, whose special talent for comedic frenzy fires on all cylinders in The Secret of My Success. Fox's light-footed energy is so endearing, in fact, and the movie's comic pacing so deft (even if its cinematic stylistics, from its jukeboxed soundtrack to its montage sequences, are hopelessly dated), you sort of forgive the screenplay for its ethically bankrupt messaging.

Given that, it's rather surprising that this movie tie-in scores, against all odds, as an above-average novelization, with a snappy-enough prose style that manages to sufficiently evoke the farcical tone of the movie. Is it worth reading? I mean, at this point, the movie itself is barely worth watching -- its only real value is as a 1980s time capsule -- so unless you're looking for a trip down memory lane, there isn't much to offer here. But, as tie-ins go, I've read a lot worse, and the mere fact that it works without relying on Michael J. Fox's singular charisma lends at least a small measure of distinction to this particular piece of pop-cultural ephemera.