If you liked "Mayberry RFD" or other comedies in rural settings, you'll probably like this one. Sophisticated, newly minted cosmetic surgeon Fox) from the big-city has an accident in the small town of Grady, Georgia, and is sentenced to work in the local "hospital" for a while. He condescends to the dim-witted locals, politely spurning their offer of $30,000 a year to remain in Grady and replace the aging town doctor (Bernard Hughes). Fox is headed for Beverley Hills where he will pull down about $900,000 a year.
Though he's impatient to get out of Grady, he finds all the rustic types a little amusing. There's the local knockout seductress (Bridget Fonda) who will do anything to get to Hollywood. There's the hyper-macho insurance salesman (Harrelson) who dreams of selling earthquake insurance because you collect premiums for godzillians of years and then when the Big One comes, you declare bankruptcy. Then there's the inevitable, true-blue, intelligent girl, Lu (Julie Warner), who plans to spend the rest of her life in the torpid rural South.
But, what do you know, folks? The sly locals may look like failed stars to our alien sensibilities they are not brown dwarfs. It turns out that these rednecks ain't so dumm after all. They're candid and quick-witted and there's not a jot of racism in the entire film. Barnard Hughes, drunk, recites the collected works of Walt Whitman at dinner parties. Vailu is a graduate of a university in New York and is reading for her law school application. She invites Fox to join her in urinating about a deer blind to keep the animals away. (She's a vegetarian.) The mechanic who fixes Fox's Porsche was trained in Germany and speaks a little German. One of the town council is an obvious homosexual but nobody minds. The place drips with good-natured tolerance and down-home humanism. You know, if it weren't for all the Spanish moss on the live oak trees, you could almost believe you were in San Francisco. Of course, the city doesn't have an annual Squash Festival, but you could drive to Half Moon Bay for the Pumpkin Festival.
Anyway, Fox gets to Beverley Hills and is hired by George Hamilton, the greedy, pompous head of a cosmetic surgery clinic, who collects monstrous fees for performing liposuctions. "Is the next patient in pre-op?", he asks, and then grins at Fox, "Always time for one more." One of Fox's patients back in Grady can't pay his bill so he gives Fox a pig. Now, here's an example of the low-key humor in this film. Fox trots the pig around town on a leash. The town flanneurs nod their approval and say, "Nice pig you got there, doc." Meanwhile, Lieutenant Kije Suite bumps along on the sound track. It's not a belly laugh. It's a warm smile. The whole film could have been an episode on the old "Twilight Zone." Written by Earl Hamner, Jr. Small-town people are God-fearing sons of the earth. Big city people are corrupt and they walk too fast.
Nobody can fault the performances though. Fox is just fine. It's a familiar role for him, the perplexed and frazzled newcomer. The surprising thing is that the others are just as good, regardless of the size of the part. The community may be not much more than a brightly buffed stereotype but the actors do their own things well.
Does Fox come to his senses and return to Grady? I leave it to you to guess.
