Mac And Me

Mac And Me
Movie Info
Release date:	August 12, 1988
Written By:	Stewart Raffill Steve Feke
Director:	Steve Raffill
Budget:	$13, 000, 000
Gross:	$6, 424, 112
Distributed By:	Orion Pictures
Rotten Tomatoes Score:	0%

"That was my mother's painting! It was 100 years old!"

-Janet Cruise, the mother in the film

Mac And Me was a 1988 film, funded by McDonald's and the Coca-Cola company. This is evident due to lots of product placement for both brands throughout the movie.

Summary

A small alien, named Mac (standing for Mysterious Alien Creature), gets separated from his family in California. He decides to go camp out in the house of the Cruise family, and is not spotted by any of the family members, with the exception of their youngest boy who uses a wheelchair, Eric Cruise. He tries to trap Mac, and with the help of his friend Debbie, he does. They decide to return Mac to his family, who somehow made it all the way to the desert. First, they must attend a birthday party at McDonald's.

The CIA somehow shows up, and starts chasing Eric, Mac, and Debbie. Eric's brother and Debbie's sister drive them out to the desert, where they find the rest of Mac's family. They are all dead. Luckily, Coca-Cola revives them somehow, so the bring the whole family back home, where they become full-fledged American citizens.

At the very end, one of the aliens says "We'll Be Back!", due to the fact that the production team thought a sequel would spawn from this. It was shelved.

Cast

-Jade Calegory as Eric Cruise

-Johnathan Ward as Michael Cruise

-Christine Ebersole as Janet Cruise

-Lauren Stanley as Debbie

-Squire Friedell as Ronald McDonald

-Jennifer Aniston as an uncredited extra

Accolades

Mac And Me was nominated for four separate Razzie awards at the 1988 Golden Raspberry Awards.

• Worst New Star, awarded to Ronald McDonald.

• Worst New Director, awarded to Stewart Raffill

• Worst Picture, nominated, but lost.

• Worst Screenplay, nominated, but lost.

Reception

The film only grossed $6, 424, 112 of it's original $13, 000, 000 budget. This is an amount that would make the film considered a box office bomb.

The film is often criticized for it's extreme similarity to E.T., a highly successful film released a few years prior. It is also often criticized for it's blatant product placement of McDonald's and Coca-Cola. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post said, "Ronald McDonald appears on screen . . . and there's something familiar about that little alien's acronym. It turns out producer R.J. Louis was once an account executive for a California advertising agency handling guess what major account? Is there something wrong with this picture? Yes, there is."

Mac And Me is generally panned by critics. The film received a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the second-lowest possible rating. The only film to ever score lower was Foodfight!, which received a negative-zero rating. On somethingawful.com, critic Emily Reigel said, "The only reason I can think of to watch this movie would be to gape in awe and horror at the sheer amount of product placement that takes place." Nathan Rabin of the A.V. Club rated it a "Failure", and said, "Shameless to the bitter end, Mac And Me ends with its titular grotesque blowing a giant bubble emblazoned with the words, 'We’ll be back.' No. No, you won’t."

Footnotes