Life with Mikey

Life with Mikey (also known as Give Me a Break) is a 1993 American comedy film directed by James Lapine and written by Marc Lawrence. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper and Christina Vidal in her film acting debut.

Life with Mikey
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Lapine
Written by	Marc Lawrence
Produced by	Teri Schwartz Scott Rudin
Starring	Michael J. Fox Nathan Lane Cyndi Lauper Christina Vidal
Cinematography	Rob Hahn
Edited by	Robert Leighton
Music by	Alan Menken
Production company	Touchstone Pictures
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date	June 4, 1993 (1993-06-04)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$12.4 million[1]

Plot

Mikey Chapman is a former child star from a 1970s sitcom. Now a talent agent for child stars, Mikey discovers Angie Vega, a girl who pick-pockets for money and lives with her teenage sister and her boyfriend. Together, they try to hit it big and earn her a role on a series of television commercials.

Cast

• Michael J. Fox as Michael "Mikey" Chapman
• Nathan Lane as Ed Chapman
• Cyndi Lauper as Geena Briganti
• Christina Vidal as Angie Vega
• David Krumholtz as Barry Corman
• David Huddleston as Mr. Corcoran
• Tim Progosh as Lawyer Norman Feller
• Victor Garber as Brian Spiro
• Paula Garcés as Janice Vega
• Mary Alice as Mrs. Gordon
• Kathryn Grody as Mrs. Corman
• Sean Power as Lenny
• Heather MacRae as Mrs. Tobin
• Blake McGrath as Acrobat
• Rubén Blades as Richard Vega
• Aida Turturro as Officer Moran
• Christine Baranski as Carol
• Kevin Zegers as Little Mikey
• Mandy Patinkin as Irate Man
• Jerry Lawler as The Lobotomizer
• Jeff Jarrett as Evil Eye

Production

Marc Lawrence came up with the premise for Life with Monkey after reflecting on his five years working as a writer and supervising producer on Family Ties and decided to write a screenplay about a character in a similar transitional stage in their career.^[2] Producer Scott Rudin became involved with the project in 1989.^[2] The Walt Disney Company briefly considered putting the film into turnaround, but after Eddie Murphy expressed interest in the film this led to Disney changing their minds.^[2] Theatre director James Lapine was hired to direct the film and also brought on several cast and crew for the film who had worked in theater with Lapine.^[2]

In May 1992, it was reported that Michael J. Fox would star in the Marc Lawrence scripted Life with Mikey for Touchstone Pictures.^[3] After completing For Love or Money, Fox exercised an option in his contract with Universal Pictures allowing him to work with an outside studio and accepted the offer from Disney.^[4] Christina Vidal was not cast until two weeks before production was slated to commence.^[2]

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews.^[5][6][7][8] Review aggregator RottenTomatoes reports that 25% of the 12 critics gave the film a positive review, with 3 fresh and 9 rotten review, with a rating average of 4.05 out of 10.^[9]

Box office

The film debuted at number 7 at the US box office.^{[10][11][12][13]}