Making Mr. Right (1987)

Making Mr. Right (1987) is a surprisingly funny movie, for something I've never heard of even remotely. Usually funny movies get talked about, word gets around... but not this time.

This movie is about a scientist named Jeff (John Malkovich) who creates an android named Ulysses (John Malkovich) with the aim of sending him into space. To promote said android, Jeff and his employer hire a PR lady (the charismatic and attractive Ann Magnuson) who the android almost instantly bonds with. 

THERE'S A TWIST! The scientist is a horrible people person, and the android is charming, innocent, open to everything, and fun. Our PR lady ends up falling for the naive robot, and everyone ends up disliking the antisocial jerk of a scientist. 

The '80s was filled with movies about trick identities. Big, Vice Versa, Trading Places, The Secret of My Success, Coming to America, Dead Ringers, there were a ton. The whole popular culture seemed intrigued with being someone wildly different than who you seemed to be on the outside. The movie even makes a sly nod to this idea when the characters go past a movie marquee playing The Parent Trap. 

John Malkovich is quite good at both roles, although it's really more like 1.5 roles - the jerk scientist is such a pure jerk and has no other dimensions at all that it's more like half a role. His goofy grinning android is a real joy to watch, though, as he lurches around and makes inane comments and generally learns how to be human. 

This movie also features another nice '80s touch, one that I really miss: real human dynamics. One thing movies are sorely, sorely lacking now are little things - people talking over a TV dinner, parking badly at a curb, throwing a pillow at a TV when something bad happens, etc etc. People just being people. All too rare these days, but this movie is full of little quirks that make you grin and occasionally laugh out loud. 

Making Mr. Right was directed by Susan Seidelman, who also made Desperately Seeking Susan, which I didn't really care for but didn't really hate either. It pulled in a tidy 1.5 mil at the box office, but I can't find out how much it cost to make, so I have no idea if it came out profit or loss. Hopefully profit. It's a small movie, but a nice one. I wouldn't mind catching a few more like these during my quest.