By Keith Uhlich
I hereby proclaim, for no good reason, May 30th, 2007 as Mac and Me day. Thank you Walter Chaw for reminding me of this long-lost staple of my youth, which -- if memory serves -- I caught in the theater as part of a friend's birthday celebration (I also believe this to be the only birthday of said "friend" that I ever attended, before or since). All I can recall of that viewing is limber little Mac, lost alien visitor-cum-McDonalds/Coke spokesman, stretching himself into a Silly Putty-like string and screaming like a cat in heat. (Apparently, this was his way of getting past an electric fence -- good thing, I suppose, that he didn't use Ren & Stimpy's method.) But, god bless YouTube, I can now catch up more fully with this cinema classic (from soon-to-unleash Mannequin 2: On the Move autuer Stewart Raffill), and preserve it in digital amber for all future generations.
Of course, after subjecting myself to the following clips, I've determined that Mac and Me might better be titled, per that other masterpiece (for real!) of '88, Die Hard. As in my soul. Is dying. Hard. Ah, the vicissitudes of the intervening years on the formative mind. Let's begin, shall we?
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Keith Uhlich is managing editor of The House Next Door, a staff critic for Slant Magazine, and a contributor to a variety of print and online publications.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Mac and Me Day
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16 comments:
Gee, Keith. Somehow I'd managed to expunge this movie from my memory. And now it's all as clear again. Clear as day.
I'm sending my therapy bills to you.
And I get shit for Shameful Movies of Odie's Past Film Festivals? At least I don't show any clips that might damage your soul. All this needs is Nicolas Cage screaming "The Nuggets! Not the Nuggets!"
This finds its equivalent in the far shorter but equally mind-numbing Burger King commercials, especially the one where the guy wakes up and discovers the terrifying big-headed Burger King in bed next to him. Who among us hasn't woken up after a night of ingesting God knows what to discover something you didn't remember going to bed with, then had it make you breakfast? Let's not all raise our hands at once. And why didn't this blatant exhibition of man-on-mascot love raise the ire of Bible Belt consumer advocates? :)
That porno they made to promote Wendy's is far better than this. "I'll have the spicy coc--I mean CHICKEN combo, please..."
And this is why Orion went bankrupt. Today's lesson: Don't mess with karma.
Just noticed that the image in the poster barely matches what appears on the screen, thus clarifying that this film is of the lowest-possible-budget-but-still-Hollywood variety. On the poster Mac is very ET-like; in the film he looks more like one of those stress-relief dolls you squeeze in your hand until its eyes bulge.
odie: "And this is why Orion went bankrupt." My thoughts exactly. Man, I'm happy to have not been around long enough to suffer the slew of E.T. ripoffs this thing seems to indicate.
Keith: Didn't know (or at least didn't remember) that you dug Die Hard that much. Always been one of my favorite actioners.
I remember seeing the trailers for this on a hotel room television when I was a kid. I'm sure I asked my parents to take me to see it -- and I'm so glad they didn't!
Watching it now, though, is wonderful. This looks like it's on a Troll 2 level of badness.
I too saw this movie as part of a "friend's" birthday party. Strangely, the Orion production title is the only moment that stuck in my memory.
As a preadolescent cable TV viewer, I saw A Clockwork Orange, The Tin Drum, Scanners, The Shining, Deliverance and 9 1/2 Weeks. All good. Mac and Me? I'm still getting over that shit. Thanks, Keith. Thanks a lot.
Says here that Stewart Raffill wrote and directed, but the mise en scene and thematic elements are more Nancy Reaganesque.
I love it how the actor playing Eric just flops forward in his chair at the big death scene.
Holy shit, Beans Baxter!
Watching that trailer again I remember both when I saw it in a theatre (although I cannot remember which movie it was in front of since I must have been little) and why I never sought the sumbitch out. I think I shall refrain from the other clips in light of Steve's scars. Shit.
No, Ry, and everybody else, you have to watch the re-edited trailer Keith posted. I never knew what Bernie Mac meant by sweating from your eyeballs til this trailer had me literally sobbing from laughter.
Okay, that shit is tight.
Ah, yes. E.T. II: Electric Bugaloo. I actually remember watching that thing on video once as a kid. I was at that not too discriminatory age where I liked everything... and I still thought it was awful!
Looking at IMDB trivia section for the movie I just discovered (or re-discovered I guess since I had already blocked most of it) it ends with a freeze frame and the superimposed title card "We'll be back!" Wow!
Why the hell doesn't he just rock his chair to the side and fall out. You'd lose your chair and get bruised, but its preferable to DROWNING.
Ah, this movie brings out the rage in me.
I have never seen Mac and Me. I am so happy to be me right now.
Thank you for the nightmares.
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