A young doctor headed for a lucrative new career takes an unexpected detour through a tiny Southern town after an accident leaves him temporarily stranded there. What should be an annoying delay slowly introduces him to a completely different kind of life and a community that has no intention of letting him pass through unnoticed. It’s a fish out of water comedy about ambition, relationships, and figuring out whether getting exactly what you wanted actually makes you happy. Next week we’re reviewing a charming early 90s comedy that somehow manages to make small town medicine look pretty damn appealing.

Commissioned by: Rob H. • 8/8/26

• Year: 1991
• Budget: About $20 million
• Box Office: About $54.8 million worldwide
• Awards: No major awards
• Fun Facts: The film stars Michael J. Fox and was based on the novel What? Dead…Again? by physician Neil B. Shulman. The fictional town was largely filmed in Micanopy, Florida, giving the movie its authentic small town look. Woody Harrelson appears in an early film role while he was still best known for Cheers. The movie later drew plenty of comparisons to Pixar’s Cars, which follows a remarkably similar setup involving an ambitious outsider stranded in a small town who begins reconsidering what matters in life.