Great Acting and Movie, But Needed One Edit
I appreciate this movie more and more with each subsequent viewing.
Michael J. Fox's depiction of a young man ('Jamie') who, due to some rather harsh personal circumstances, is barely holding himself together with nothing more than the 3 'C's (caffeine, cocaine and carousing) is one fine performance. He was able to convey a simmering intensity that threatened to boil over to sheer screaming-meemie insane panic at any given moment, convincingly and with panache. MJF successfully maintained Jamie's uneven strain of roller-coastering frenetic energy and emotional deprivation; a lesser actor easily could have exaggerated Jamie's ricocheting emotions and experiences to make him appear buffoonish or, worse, unsympathetic to the viewer (nod to the Director here, too).
However, one scene I would have edited out was the whole ferret fiasco. I thought it was a needless, sideways interruption to the building intensity of Jamie's character and situation, and a slapstick scene like that, while potentially funny in another movie, should have been left on the editor's floor.
"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois