O Homem Certo

After he is seen with a beauty queen, Florida advertising executive Ann Magnusson (as Frankie Stone) drops "not hard enough" politician boyfriend Ben Masters (as Steve Marcus) from her roster. Next, she accepts a pitch from the local "Chemtec" organization; in danger of losing their government funding, the company wants Ms. Magnusson to work on public relations. She meets the company's chief calling card, an anatomically correct blond android named "Ulysses" (played by John Malkovich). He's the spitting image of creator "Jeff Peters" (Mr. Malkovich again).

His "Dr. Frankenstein" wants "Ulysses" to be a spaceman, but the android gets lovesick for Magnusson, and wants to remain on Earth. This dilemma makes you wonder why they didn't leave a trio of parts off the manly Malkovich; probably, it was due to his creator not being very "good with people." It all works out just fine in the end. The cast is fun, if not always funny. And some of the supporting characters are cast aside by a quick ending. Still, Malkovich makes a great date; especially, watch for his hilarious encounter with Laurie Metcalf (as Sandy) at the mall.

****** Making Mr. Right (4/3/87) Susan Seidelman ~ John Malkovich, Ann Magnuson, Ben Masters, Glenne Headly

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.

Making Mr. Right is one of director Susan Seidleman's funniest movies, perhaps even funnier than Desperately Seeking Susan. Plus, I love Seidleman's style, with such goofy situations always set in beautiful atmospheres with bright, art deco settings and neo/retro (60s with an 80s modification) wardrobe for both female and male characters. They were part of what made her movies so interesting.

Once again, Seidleman has directed another great romantic comedy with a terrific cast. Ann Magnuson is Frankie Stone, a woman who works in high class advertising. She has taken on a new project to help find the proper advertising angle for a new creation that is going to change the future--an android named Ullyseus (Malkovich), designed by a seriously detached scientist named Jeff Peters (also Malkovich). A scientist and an identical, eager android is already destined for great laughs as the situations lead to a few wild misunderstandings.

To Peter's dismay, Stone's quality time with Ullyseus (so she can figure out a successful advertising campaign) starts to make the android more human. And, ironically, he gains more human emotion than his identical creator, Jeff Peters, who gradually sinks into something more like an emotionless, android state. But Ullyseus wants to know what true love is all about (and Stone wants to know if such a thing is even possible).

It is a sweet movie, as Seidleman's movie often are, mostly because all the actors (and their respective characters) work so well together. In particular, this is a great demonstration of Malkovich's talents. It is one of the few comedies I have seen him in. And, it's fantastic to seem his try to act like an android acting like a human. Also, Laurie Metcalf (who was in Desperately Seeking Susan), as usual, is one of the funniest characters in the whole movie (just wait till you watch the scene with her and Ullyseus at the mall). It is a great romantic comedy, and one that I think 80s fans are sure to enjoy. Plus, Chaz Jenkel (who did some of the music for 'Real Genius') adds some great synthesizer/bongo drums music for this movie.

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.

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.