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February 08, 2006  This is a post about Mac and Me, a notorious E.T. ripoff from 1988. This movie has long been derided for, among other things, extensive McDonald's product placements that include the title of the film and numerous plot points. I've decided that many of the film geeks and hipsters who make fun of this movie have never actually watched it, so this is a bit of a primer. The film tells the story of Eric and Michael, two kids from the midwest whose father, we learn from a framed photo that Eric looks at wistfully, has recently died. Their mother, Janet (Christine Ebersole, who gets major points for having appeared in this and Thief of Hearts), gets a new job at a Sears department store in southern California and takes the family to find the promised land, perhaps also known as El Segundo. Along the way, they pick up a stowaway in the form of a (supposedly) cute alien named Mac, whose family recently hitched a ride on a NASA probe from their home planet. Mac's alien family is stuck in the California desert somewhere starving to death while Mac and Eric, who is wheelchair bound, go on a series of wacky adventures in their new town. Eventually, Mac, Eric and friends attract the attention of two FBI agents, who chase them through a McDonald's and into the Sears store at the mall where mom works. The kids, including one who works at McDonald's and stays in her work uniform for almost the entire film, quickly evade the FBI and race to the desert to save Mac's family. They are miraculously able to accomplish this by infusing the aliens' withered bodies with Coca-Cola Classic, which the kids opine must be "like what they drink on their own planet." After the predictable armed conflict climax in which the aliens are fired upon by some trigger-happy military types--thank god the aliens are impervious to everything!--we get a happy ending in which the alien family become citizens of the United States. The film is also notable for some actually cool visual effects at the beginning, as we visit Mac's planet, as well as a score by frequent Zemeckis composer Alan Silvestri. The score is basically an amalgam of James Horner's Cocoon for the sappy moments and Back to the Future during the action sequences. Also included are two songs, one of which comes in memorably during a montage where we learn that Mac's plight on an alien planet is--surprise!--not unlike handicapped Eric's plight in a new town! Some visual highlights:  --A lengthy dance competition sequence around an hour into the film that takes place both inside and outside a local McDonald's. I've never seen anything like this happening at a fast food restaurant.  --Coke is used for medicinal purposes on some planets!  --The last shot of the film. Sadly, the world is still waiting... |