Making Mr. Right

As a tremendous fan of movies, I have yet to see many directed by women. Rarely are they publicized, and rarely are they seen, for many reasons. This movie, Making Mr. Right, is one of the great films of the late twentieth century.

It is a film fraught with ironies and humor, and told from the perspective of a busy working woman, who is in the midst of making her life and keeping up relationships. Her life is changed when she is forced to train an android to learn some people skills.

The movie brings up all kinds of social questions – it feels largely told from a anthropologist's view – a perspective that is completely devoid of the subject at work. This is certainly very interesting, and becomes very engaging when it is forced to look at the way people interact and why.

There are the obvious questions – like can machines think? These conspicuous ones are less interesting to the audience since they are an old hat, something already presented to us by science fiction writers of the 60s and 70s.

The cinematography or other technical elements are nothing to rave about. You don't watch it for the special effects, obviously. John Malkovich puts on a startling real act of a machine, as well as the maddened scientist who cannot interact with the real world.

RATING: 8/10

"One day, when people have figured that out (the problems of love), then they will be more than just machines"

The two stars of the film are John Malkovich and Ann Magnuson. John Malkovich is now renowned as a consummate actor, and in this film he has a tour de force in a dual role playing Dr. Jeff Peters, an all-serious engineer/scientist and the look-alike android he created for a one-person multi-year deep space mission which the characters believe would be too lonely for a human to endure.

Unfortunately, Ann Magnuson did not enjoy similar success as a film actress following this part. I found that surprising because she was truly excellent as Frankie Stone, a respected publicist hired to convince the government to provide funds for continuation of Dr. Peters' deep space project. Frankie's approach is to make the android (named Ulysses) more engaging and interesting to the general public during interviews. That is, to make it more human-like. Magnuson, a red-head, was around 30 years old when the film was made, and I thought at times that I was watching a 30 year old Shirley MacLaine.

The style of the film as a whole seemed to me to belong to an earlier time in the film industry, more like 1950s era romantic comedies. I checked to see if the film had been made earlier and not released until 1987, but found nothing to indicate that. Perhaps I'm just not remembering that time period accurately.

Frankie Stone (Ann Magnuson) is a modern woman in Miami. She's in public relations and is tired of boyfriend/client politician Steven Marcus. Her mother keeps bothering her about her sister's wedding. Her latest client is repressed scientist Jeff Peters (John Malkovich). He has created the Ulysses android which looks exactly like him. The program is in danger of losing government funding. Ulysses has never seen a woman and Frankie starts teaching him social graces before presenting him on a talk show. Her best friend Trish (Glenne Headly) arrives to stay with her after Trish's soap actor husband left her.

The premise is somewhat cute. This is a rom-com where the successful female lead can't find a good man. Ann Magnuson is not a big rom-com actress. A bigger actress could probably make this work better. Malkovich is a stiff scientist and a learning robot. He's fine but not a hunky lead. I don't think any of the jokes are working. Frankie is a nice character but this isn't that funny.

If there were more genuine laugh-out-loud moments in this film, it could have achieved more commercial success. OR, if it hadn't been pitched to audiences as a straight comedy, it could have achieved later status over time as a cult film. This is the approach I think the producers should have taken. This would have made a great indie(rather than a mainstream release by the fledgling Orion Pictures) with Ann Magnuson still as the star. Have the actors play it straight as a character study and let the subtle natural comedy shine through. Laurie Metcalf's dingy character would have to be dismissed or toned down a bit, but otherwise this would work with the same quirky charm that made Mystic Pizza (released the following year) a success.

As it is, the film is sweet more than it is funny. And it works thanks to John Malkovich's great dual performances and Magnuson's ability to carry a film (the only time she's been allowed to do so before or since--pity). Believe it or not, this was the film in which I discovered them both, and they should still be proud of having it on their resumes, even with all they went on to accomplish.

I shouldn't be too hard on Orion, though. After all, they did put out "The Silence of the Lambs", but they also let "Blue Sky" sit on a shelf until they went belly-up and another studio had to release it four years after it was completed. The only flaw is not in this film itself, but in the way it was marketed and what I as an audience member expected going into it. This film deserves rediscovery--and if it gets it, there's the added bonus of '80s nostalgia in the fashions and some of the dialogue.

7 April 2010. This likable android becomes more human sci fi scenario offers Malkovich an opportunity to act multi-dimensionally as well as provide both comedic and some endearing emotional tenderness. Never completely over the top, this somewhat predictable storyline is pretty basic but with a snappy soundtrack and decent script, the pacing and editing, continuity make for an entertaining, fun, and feel-good experience. The movie while never probing into any depth, does offer some reflection on humanity and love. There are a few plot points that don't seem to have resolution (like Frankie Stone's sister's ultimate disposition), an abrupt cut away from Frankie Stone's climatic embarrassment as well as somewhat of a under-developed segment on the androids coming out. Overall, though this is decent, above average sci fi comedy with a heart (Wizard of Oz style and all).