Hollywood has opened dozens of opportunities for filmmakers to craft original and interesting new stories. So it’s always surprising when movies choose to remake, repeat, or do everything they can to tell a story that, whether consciously or unconsciously, basically tell a worse version of a story we’ve already seen.
Mac and Me is a story plagued by what came before it. And not just because the movie is clearly in the same vein as another movie about a stranded alien befriending a small boy, but also because the movie that came before it was among the best movies of it time. The fact that anyone would try to recapture that magic, and do it shamelessly is kind of mindboggling.
Mac and Me is as if a five year old watched E.T. once, told their parent about it, and then that parent made a movie from that description. So not only does the result feel like a pure copy, it also feels like there are details lacking and moments that play less fantastic whimsy, and more inane nonsense.
And while it’s not abysmal in its own right, the constant comparison just drags the final product down and makes the overall result so much more horrible in retrospect. Because while many movies are bad simply through their own craft, its worse if the movie is clearly doing a disservice to a far superior product.
So there is a lesson to be learned from the failure of Mac and Me and it’s not only do you have to work hard as you craft movies, but you have to make those movies original, and full of new ideas, even if the story has elements of the past. Don’t just do something because someone else did it well, do it because it is asking a new question, expressing a new idea, or make your product different through originality, not by treading where others have chosen to tread.
So let’s get into the specifics.
The movie is judged on 5 different criteria.
Acting – How believable are the performances?
Story and Dialogue – How cohesive is the story and the dialogue of the movie?
Filmmaking – Does the filmmaking work as a whole (given the constraints of the time)?
Design Elements – Is the look cohesive and sensible?
So-Bad-Its-Good Factor – is the movie so terrible that for whatever reason it becomes fun?
As always, we’re ranking each category out of 10 for a total of 50.
Final Ranking will be from lowest score to highest score. Worst movie will be at the top of the ranking, best movie will be at the bottom.
Acting: While some of the acting is subpar, there are solid performances in places. I say solid and not good because this movie just feels like a place between stiff and melodramatic that just never find that right balance. But it could be much worse to be sure. (4/10)
Story and Dialogue: The dialogue is not amazing, there are plenty of lines that just feel ridiculous. The story is just E.T. through a game of telephone, so while it has some inspiring moments, it also has ridiculous choices and weird diversions that do not help it make the story any better. (4/10)
Filmmaking: There are no wild cuts, or bizarre shots, but there are also some off early CGI moments and a healthy set of shots which just seem out of place or somewhat arbitrary. (4/10)
Design: Well, if you wanted the movie to look just like E.T. on a budget then you definitely succeeded. And the aliens look a little goofy but are no worse than any of the other ridiculous monsters seen in this series. The whole design is very bland but has nothing dragging it down too far either. (5/10)
So-Bad-Its-Good Factor: I don’t know if it was just me, but I was laughing so much throughout this. It was hysterical how they used goofy expressions, over the top moments, and wildly bizarre cuts make the whole thing very watchable, even if it is objectively terrible. (8/10)
Total Score: 25/50
Current Ranking:
Manos: The Hands of Fate
Monster a Go-Go!
Glen or Glenda
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
Plan 9 from Outer Space
They Saved Hitler’s Brain
The Horror of Party Beach
Inchon
Mac and Me
The Terror of Tiny Town
The Apple
Howard the Duck
And with that we’ve survived the 80’s. Next week we not only arrive firmly in the 90s but also cross the halfway point on our journey to determine the worst movie ever. It’s been a slog so far, but hopefully it goes smoother through the later half of this series. I’d say it can’t get worse but who am I kidding.
In any case, thanks for taking the time to get Ploominated!
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