| Life with Mikey | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | James Lapine |
| Written by | Marc Lawrence |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Rob Hahn |
| Edited by | Robert Leighton |
| Music by | Alan Menken |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $12.4 million[1] |
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.
 | This section's plot summary needs to be improved. (September 2015) |
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.
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]
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]
The film debuted at number 7 at the US box office.[10][11][12][13]
