Review of Mac and Me (1988) by Bill M — 15 Aug 2018

Or three for entertainment value. Mac And Me is like a cheapo, tacky Canon Films or Italian rip off of ET, and it was also, quite blatantly, conceived as a feature length commercial for both McDonald's and Coca Cola, what this adds up to is a brain meltingly strange, and hilariously inept movie.

Much like the animatronic Mac himself (Mysterious Alien Creature) it just about functions. It tries to go for a feel good, rollicking family romp but instead is just an odd thing, particularly in the culmination of its ridiculous McDonald's promotion, a scene set in a McDonald's restaurant featuring the alien in a teddy bear costume, lots of random, out of nowhere professional dancers and Ronald McDonald himself, its a scene so bizarre and so misguided that it feels like it cant possibly be happening, to watch it is to know what it is like to loose ones mind, to feel sense and sanity ebbing away.

The actual puppet of Mac himself is a truly weird thing, a stiff, barely moving rubber thing with terrifying eyes and those infamous bulbous, blown up cheeks with a tiny little mouth, and the rest of Macs family are just fucked up quite frankly, there's a scene where the plucky kids find them in a cave and rejuvenate them with Coca Cola (seriously) it is meant to be an uplifting moment where they save the alien family and reunite Mac with his estranged parents, instead its kinda terrifying, and you really just want those kids to get out of there and away from those fucking awful, nightmare things.

But there's something truly endearing about it, especially after a few beers, all the while mainling a fair few more whilst watching with friends who get it all. Its sort of well meaning and totally unaware of itself, and quite likeable in the utterly inept and bald faced way it tries so desperately to recreate ET's success and appeal to family audiences and their wallets.

Its of course gained infamy as a cult crapfest, especially the hilarious scene where Eric the wheelchair bound kid hero goes flying off a cliff, in his wheelchair, which has become a running joke on Conan O Brian between O Brian and Paul Rudd, who apparently adores the charming naffness of it all.

watch out too for the alternate Japanese cut which houses a shocking moment at the end, cut from the European and US versions where Eric is accidentally shot by police, its pretty jaw dropping and compounds further the fact that the people who made this movie had no idea what the fucking hell they were doing, and maybe should never have attempted a family film.

The court case scene at the end, with the aliens dressed in human clothes and then driving off in a pink Chevy whilst an 80's pop ballad plays will add to the confusion, and to the still hard to shake notion that this may not be a real film.

Terrible/brilliant.