MartinHafer
"Mac and Me" was one of the more infamous box office duds of its time. While this would dissuade normal folks from watching it, bad movie buffs like me naturally gravitate to it because it is such a legendary flop. The biggest reason it failed--the public quickly saw it for what it really was--a blatant rip-off of "E.T.". And, this time even MORE corporate references are thrown in the viewer's face...with McDonald's and Coke references galore!! Instead of Reese's Pieces, they feed this god-awful corporate shill Skittles! And, to revive Mac's family who are on the edge of death, they feed them Coke!!!The film begins with an incredibly ugly family of aliens mysteriously getting sucked into a US space probe. They are then deposited on Earth and their baby, Mac, is lost and must find its way home. In the process it meets a nice disabled kid and makes his life complete. But, when it's no longer safe, he and Elliot, I mean Eric, go on a cross- country race to find his parents and get him home--and evade capture. And to do this, they dress him up in a Halloween-type costume! Need I continue?!So is the film any good? Well, if "ET" had never been made, sure it would have been reasonably entertaining to very young kids who didn't notice that the film was a giant commercial and who wouldn't notice the bad dialog and abounding clichés. But "ET" HAD BEEN ALREADY MADE several years earlier...so the film has zip when it comes to originality. You wonder how the folks associated with the film felt--they must have been really embarrassed at how blatant this was. And, at just about every turn it seems to do it worse than "ET"...and often MUCH worse. It's a vacuous, soul-sucking corporate mess of a film in so many ways.When I saw this film tonight, it was decades after its original release and I was startled how ugly and expressionless Mac was. However, I had to remind myself that ET also looks pretty crappy when you see him today because we are used to much better special effects in 2015--though Mac is definitely crappier. The worst is when the dead, expressionless doll is riding on Eric's lap during the big chase! As for the outer space scene, however, I watched it on a very big screen TV and I was surprised because it looked so nice. This space scene along with actually hiring a disabled kid to play a disabled kid are about the only things that impressed me about the film. Otherwise, a pointless rip-off from start to finish---and not even bad enough to make bad movie buffs laugh. But enough overt corporate references to make this a GREAT film to use as a drinking game--taking a shot every time you saw these blatant ads! Believe me, you would get stinking drunk if you tried this!!By the way, the kid calls the hideous little alien 'Mac'--an acronym for Mysterious Alien Creature. In no way was this meant to be like 'ET' for the Extra-Terrestrial....yeah, right! Also, perhaps it's just me, but this might just be the most whitebread, corporate and uncool film ever made--especially during the god-awful McDonald's dance scene.
ironhorse_iv
This movie Mac & Me looks like rotten Mac & Cheese. It's really gross-looking. This movie alienated me, because of that. It took me, multiply sittings to finally finish, watching this film. Directed by Stewart Raffill, the movie tells the story of a "Mysterious Alien Creature" AKA MAC who is befriended by a paraplegia boy, Eric Cruise (Jade Calegory), after escaping a NASA space probe facility. Together, they hope to try to find MAC's family, from whom the alien has been separated and reunited them. Without spoiling the movie too much, it's clear that this movie was made to capitalize on the success of 1982's Steven Spielberg's E.T. There are a lot of similarities to E.T, such as nefarious NASA agents chase scenes, the use of product placement candy to lure the creature out, and most of all, the look of the alien, which looks very similar to the design for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. In my opinion, all these similarities make it felt like the movie is just an E.T knockoff. The movie is really dumb. The look of the aliens is really bad. They look and move like drunk idiots, with their goofy open mouth expression. I found the way, they got on Earth in the first place, kinda jarring. Honestly, how in the hell, did they get the suck up by an unmanned space probe? They look like they couldn't have fit. Also, how did they survive the trip back to Earth? Wouldn't the cold of space, killed them!? How would Eric know that sucking MAC into a vacuum cleaner would work unless he saw what happened at the beginning of the film? The movie never does explain, any of these plot-holes, as the movie rushed over that to get to the more common, boy meeting the alien plot thread. I like how the movie feature, a disabled kid as the main character. It's rarely used, even today. It's just nice, seeing real disabled people, getting big roles. I kinda like how character is using a wheelchair, but I kinda wish, they explain his backstory, a little more, on why they were moving to California from Illinois, and why he was in the wheelchair in the first place. I really hate Eric's mother, Janet (Christine Ebersole). She come across as really mean. It was bit, a stretch to blame your wheelchair bound, son for redesigning your living room into a desert. It's not like, he was able to do that, on his own, in one night. This woman is horrible. I really didn't mind, the supporting kid actors. Most of them, played their roles, as they were told. I just wish, they had more of reaction to the aliens, that what they were giving. This film also marks the film debut of a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston, who features as an uncredited extra. So look for that. The dialogue is pretty bland. Nothing, really clever. I didn't care too much on Eric's older brother, Michael (Jonathan Ward)'s romantic sub-plot, falling in love, with neighbor, Courtney (Tina Caspary). The jokes were mostly a miss than a hit. It wasn't really funny. Unlike it was accidentally funny, like the supposed, serious scene, where Eric in a wheelchair loses control and rolls downhill off a cliff and into water where he nearly drowns. I know, it's not supposed to be funny, but I nearly laugh myself to death, on how random slapstick, the scene looks. You gotta admit the wheelchair stunts are pretty impressive. Yes, this scene be a bit much for younger viewers, especially any who know kids in wheelchairs, but come on, anybody who see this clip on Conan O'Brien's shows or internet channels, knows how 'so bad-it's good' funny it was. It was probably the highlight of the film. Most the action scenes are alright, but badly done. I did find it, a bit weird for the absurdity of the grocery store, blowing up, due to a minor gun-shot, and Eric turning to a cutout, that was added in post. The special effect failures are so clear, as many of the special effects look so dated, even at the time, and fake-looking. The vacuum, sucking scenes are probably the worst. One of the worst things about the film, is how it feels more like a commercial, than a film. There are tons of blatant product placements shown in the film, including Coca-Cola, Skittles, Sears, but the most had to be the pervasive promotion of McDonalds. The contrivance of the "Mysterious Alien Creature" being referred to by the acronym "MAC", the aliens coming from the planet of "Quartus Poundus", the five-minute dance number in a McDonald's restaurant featuring Ronald McDonald, and the use of Ronald McDonald to introduce the film's theatrical trailer, really oversteps the boundaries. I know that the movie was there to promote good causes like Ronald McDonald's house, but, they really didn't market it, like that, when it came out. It comes across, more like greedy, obnoxious and shameless, plugging of how good, their product was. The music, that the movie used, weren't that great. "Take Me, I'll Follow You" by Bobby Caldwell, Flint River Band's "Wait And Break My Heart Tomorrow" & Jara Lane, "You're Not a Stranger Anymore" don't really match the film, that well. Composer, Alan Silvestri's score is way better than the movie deserves. In my opinion, it's the only thing, in the film, that it's too good for this mess of a movie. The ending to the film is really bad. The film ends with a freeze frame and the words "We'll be back!" superimposed, but after egregious reviews and box office returns, the planned sequel was cancelled permanently. Thank Goodness. Overall: fans of the so-bad-it's-good school of movie watching will find much to enjoy in the cheese and the awfulness, but other than that. This movie is not worth it. Don't recommended. Wish, I was watching, Steven Spielberg's E.T, instead.
