Framed to Perfection LV

NOTE: This article was intended as a little Halloween joke. I mean, what’s more scary than the notion that Mac and Me is better than ET. So, yes, just a joke. Or… IS IT?!

MAC AND ME (1988)

Director: Stewart Raffill

Cinematographer: Nick McLean

Contrarian prick mode activated!

Oh and, yes, I watched the MST3K version, so I may have missed a few things.

Apparently, this is: “One of the Worst Films Ever Made!”. But I don’t see it. The usual complaints are: the title is just awful, it’s a blatant ET rip-off, and its gratuitous product placement is suffocating. Meh. What films in the 80s and 90s didn’t rip-off Steven Spielberg movies?! Even films produced by Spielberg are, to this day, thought to have been secretly ghost-directed by him.

Nonsense, of course, but such theorists at least have a point.

I’ve never liked ET. Even as the “target audience” for it, I hated it. I was off sick from school one day and my parents rented a copy for me to watch. I thus got sicker as the day progressed. I still don’t believe it’s a family film. It’s an utterly miserable experience, that should be avoided at all costs. In fact, I don’t think anyone truly likes ET. It’s usually just forced on people. Usually sick kids, such as myself.

Parents: “Here you go, Jamie, we rented ET for you so you can get better!”

Me: “No!”

Parents: “There, there! You’ll be well soon!”

Me: [vomits blood]

Mac and Me isn’t a lazy B-movie, as I always assumed it would be. No, somebody spent a lot of time and effort on it. There’s an artistic vision here, so clearly the producer didn’t just shove a copy of the script into the director’s hand on Monday and said: “There, get on with it!”. It’s not one of the worst films ever made. Believe me.

Yes, the title is crap. Yes, it is clearly in the ET mould. No, the product placement isn’t that obnoxious. The notorious “McDonald’s scene” goes on for less than a minute. Get-the-fuck over it.

I have no idea what’s going on in the above shot, but my retinitis pigmentosa assures me that it’s a great shot that’s worthy of mention.

You tell me.

One important point about Mac and Me, which I am not bringing up for tiresome politically-correct reasons, is that the film doesn’t make a big deal about its protagonist being disabled. Eric is just in a wheelchair. That’s it. So, surely, the film gets credit for being so cool about such a thing. Well, I think it does.

Mac and Me is a fine film, let down simply by its admittedly-shitty title and some lazy film journalism. It’s not worth seeking out, but neither is it worth avoiding. It proudly is what it is. Is it better than ET? Hmm… possibly.

Do stay in touch, darlings.

Toodles!