Mac and Me has a reputation as one of the most infamous movies Hollywood has ever produced- and with good reason. It is utter dreck, a shameless rip-off of ET and an extended exercise in gratuitous product placement. The only original ideas it has are utterly insane. And the alien costumes are sure to give kids nightmares.
The amazing thing is that for the most part this movie is not poorly made, at least from a technical standpoint. The acting is completely fine, even good by the standards of a children's movie. The directing and editing are perfectly competent. The photography is quite nice, with many good panning and aerial shots of the desert surroundings. There are some well-staged car chases and crashes that obviously required experienced stunt coordinators, and a number of entirely convincing explosions. This is clearly a movie made by professionals who knew what they were doing and had a decent budget to work with.
Which makes it all the stranger that the alien costumes are so horrifyingly bad. Or that this movie turned out so awful. Or maybe not so strange when you consider the script they were working with. From its inception, no-one was under the illusion that Mac & Me was anything but a blatant rip off. The little alien being stranded on Earth, befriending a young child, revealing his magical powers, and the pursuit by frightening government agents in black suits; all directly copied from Spielberg. They also manage to shoehorn in scenes lifted from Poltergeist, and a plucky sidekick who looks and sounds suspiciously like Punky Brewster.
And the entire time the product placement is blatantly front and center, until the whole project feels more like a series of advertisements than an actual movie. ET saw the alien take Reese's Pieces from a child's hand. In Mac and Me they pass packages of Skittles to each other. And drink Cokes nonstop. Seriously, several major plot points - including what can only be described as a resurrection- are driven by the aliens' overpowering need to acquire more Coca Cola.
And in one of cinema's most infamous scenes, Mac and friends engage in an extended dance off at a McDonalds' with Ronald McDonald, members of a football team, and several of the employees. The ending credits even include a credit for "Ronald McDonald, as himself." If you look very closely during the dance off scene, you can actually see the director in the background, waving a handful of bills, because even he wants you to know what a cynical cash grab this movie is.
Now by this point we've already seen adult sized aliens sucked face first into a vacuum cleaner, and our little protagonist fall off a cliff, wheelchair and all. But it's from the McDonald's scene onward that things really go off the rails into the realm of utter madness. In short order we're treated to the aforementioned resurrection via Coke, a shoot out with the cops, and a massive, fiery explosion in which half the cast appears to die. No points for guessing whether everyone is fine in the end. And I dare anyone not to burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the final scene, which takes place in a courthouse of all places.
Now I've mentioned that the aliens are ugly, but I haven't said just how ugly. These things look like someone crossed ET with a deformed pig and a blow-up doll, then decided to add horns in case audiences couldn't already tell that these things are of the devil. I cannot fathom how such monstrosities were allowed into a children's movie.
So yes, Mac and Me is absolutely awful. It is one of the most cynical cash grabs ever unleashed upon movie going audiences by Hollywood, and is pathetic in every respect except for most of its production values. And yet every minute of it is so gloriously inept, incoherent, and utterly insane that you can't look away. It is so perfectly awful and unintentionally hilarious that it can't possibly be the worst movie ever. This is an experience you have to see to believe. Preferably with lots of friends and some comedic help from Jonah and the 'bots.
The amazing thing is that for the most part this movie is not poorly made, at least from a technical standpoint. The acting is completely fine, even good by the standards of a children's movie. The directing and editing are perfectly competent. The photography is quite nice, with many good panning and aerial shots of the desert surroundings. There are some well-staged car chases and crashes that obviously required experienced stunt coordinators, and a number of entirely convincing explosions. This is clearly a movie made by professionals who knew what they were doing and had a decent budget to work with.
Which makes it all the stranger that the alien costumes are so horrifyingly bad. Or that this movie turned out so awful. Or maybe not so strange when you consider the script they were working with. From its inception, no-one was under the illusion that Mac & Me was anything but a blatant rip off. The little alien being stranded on Earth, befriending a young child, revealing his magical powers, and the pursuit by frightening government agents in black suits; all directly copied from Spielberg. They also manage to shoehorn in scenes lifted from Poltergeist, and a plucky sidekick who looks and sounds suspiciously like Punky Brewster.
And the entire time the product placement is blatantly front and center, until the whole project feels more like a series of advertisements than an actual movie. ET saw the alien take Reese's Pieces from a child's hand. In Mac and Me they pass packages of Skittles to each other. And drink Cokes nonstop. Seriously, several major plot points - including what can only be described as a resurrection- are driven by the aliens' overpowering need to acquire more Coca Cola.
And in one of cinema's most infamous scenes, Mac and friends engage in an extended dance off at a McDonalds' with Ronald McDonald, members of a football team, and several of the employees. The ending credits even include a credit for "Ronald McDonald, as himself." If you look very closely during the dance off scene, you can actually see the director in the background, waving a handful of bills, because even he wants you to know what a cynical cash grab this movie is.
Now by this point we've already seen adult sized aliens sucked face first into a vacuum cleaner, and our little protagonist fall off a cliff, wheelchair and all. But it's from the McDonald's scene onward that things really go off the rails into the realm of utter madness. In short order we're treated to the aforementioned resurrection via Coke, a shoot out with the cops, and a massive, fiery explosion in which half the cast appears to die. No points for guessing whether everyone is fine in the end. And I dare anyone not to burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the final scene, which takes place in a courthouse of all places.
Now I've mentioned that the aliens are ugly, but I haven't said just how ugly. These things look like someone crossed ET with a deformed pig and a blow-up doll, then decided to add horns in case audiences couldn't already tell that these things are of the devil. I cannot fathom how such monstrosities were allowed into a children's movie.
So yes, Mac and Me is absolutely awful. It is one of the most cynical cash grabs ever unleashed upon movie going audiences by Hollywood, and is pathetic in every respect except for most of its production values. And yet every minute of it is so gloriously inept, incoherent, and utterly insane that you can't look away. It is so perfectly awful and unintentionally hilarious that it can't possibly be the worst movie ever. This is an experience you have to see to believe. Preferably with lots of friends and some comedic help from Jonah and the 'bots.