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Making Mr. Right is a 1987 American science fiction romantic comedy film directed by Susan Seidelman; starring John Malkovich as Jeff Peters/Ulysses and Ann Magnuson as Frankie Stone.[1][2] It is a loose remake of the 1967 Soviet science fiction film His Name Was Robert.
| Making Mr. Right | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Susan Seidelman |
| Written by | Floyd Byars Laurie Frank |
| Produced by | Joel Tuber |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Edward Lachman |
| Edited by | Andrew Mondshein |
| Music by | Chaz Jankel |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $9 million |
| Box office | $1,584,970 |
This film is primarily about the misadventures between an android and a woman.
Plot
editJeff Peters (John Malkovich) is an emotionally repressed scientist who cannot stand others because of their intellectual inferiority. He dreams of deep space exploration, which would be difficult because of the lack of human contact for long periods of time. He develops the Ulysses android (which looks exactly like him) for the purpose of space exploration, since an android would not be affected by the isolation.
Frankie Stone (Ann Magnuson) is hired to do public relations for the project. She meets project manager Dr. Ramdas (Harsh Nayyar) and Jeff, who both give Frankie an overview of the Ulysses project. As a part of her job, she must get to know the android better, in order to "humanize" him for the benefit of the project's sponsors in Congress. However, in his interaction with her, the android develops emotions and develops better social skills than Jeff himself. At one point, the android impersonates Jeff in order to leave the laboratory, and stows away in Frankie's Chevrolet Corvair. After escaping, he encounters human society at a shopping mall, buys a tuxedo, goes on a date with a woman named Sandy McCleary (Laurie Metcalf) who thinks he is Jeff, reducing her to an emotional wreck, and then loses his head (literally) over Frankie's best friend Trish (Glenne Headly) who has taken refuge in Frankie's apartment after walking out on her husband who is a star on the popular daytime soap opera New Jersey.
Frankie also develops feelings for the android and befriends Jeff on a lesser level. Frankie's mother Estelle Stone, (Polly Bergen) learns from Frankie's ex-boyfriend's mother that Frankie has a doctor boyfriend (Jeff) and expects Frankie to bring him to the wedding of Frankie's sister Ivy Stone. Frankie persuades Jeff to come, but Ulysses again absconds from the lab and gate-crashes the wedding. Trish's jealous TV-star husband crashes the wedding as well and gets into a fight with Ulysses. Ulysses short-circuits and crashes into the swimming pool, turning the occasion into a public relations disaster. Frankie is fired from her job and forbidden contact with Ulysses or anyone on the project. She then uses her connections with a former client and boyfriend Steve Marcus, a candidate for Congress to attend Ulysses’ launch day in an attempt to say goodbye to Ulysses, but is rebuffed by Jeff and then forced to leave by Dr. Ramdas. Ulysses then gives his farewell speech, in which he bemoans humanity's difficulty in forming relationships, both platonic and romantic.
However, Ulysses appears at Frankie's front door during the launch; Jeff actually presented that final speech himself, having realized his creation has become more empathic than him. As the lack of human contact of a seven-year space mission will not be a hardship for him due to asociality, Jeff decided to go into space while the android takes his place on Earth so Ulysses and Frankie (who by now are deeply in love) can be together.
Cast
edit- John Malkovich as Dr. Jeff Peters/Ulysses
- Ann Magnuson as Frankie Stone
- Glenne Headly as Trish
- Ben Masters as Steve Marcus
- Laurie Metcalf as Sandra "Sandy" McCleary
- Polly Bergen as Estelle Stone
- Harsh Nayyar as Dr. Ramdas
- Hart Bochner as Don
- Susan Berman as Ivy Stone
- Polly Draper as Suzy Duncan
- Christian Clemenson as Bruce
- Merwin Goldsmith as Moe Glickstein
Reception
editThe film received mixed reviews from critics, as it holds a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 15 reviews.[3]
Home media
editMaking Mr. Right was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on April 1, 2003.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Denby, David (April 27, 1987). "Making Mr. Wrong". New York Magazine. 20 (17). New York Media: 125. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Variety film review; 25 March 1987
- ^ "Making Mr. Right". Rotten Tomatoes.