"Mac and Me" is the byproduct of a decade obsessed with children befriending other-worldly creatures. As part of such, it's difficult to gauge whether or not the movie is intended to be a brilliantly executed parody or a carbon copy of "E.T." with the purpose of squeezing out one last money-grubbing cent. Ah, who am I kidding? It's totally the latter.
All I knew about "Mac and Me" prior to watching it for the first time was that a kid in a wheelchair gets hurled off a cliff in a hilarious fashion — a clip Paul Rudd has continually used as a gag trailer for movies he's promoting when appearing on Conan O'Brien. "Mac and Me" is so much more than that, though, and far exceeded my wildest cheesetastic dreams.
Wheelchair-bound Eric Cruise and his older brother Michael move from Chicago to California with their single mother. While en route, the family encounters an alien nicknamed Mac (Mysterious Alien Creature), who hitched a ride to Earth along with the rest of his family via NASA satellite. At first, only Eric is aware of Mac's existence, and the two quickly develop a lackadaisical friendship. Mac even goes as far as to save Eric's life and Eric, in turn, traps Mac in a vacuum cleaner for further study. The budding friendship is more reminiscent of a Laurel and Hardy routine than anything else. Nevertheless, Eric vows to keep the alien family safe from harm, albeit begrudgingly — so much so that his total and complete apathy for the entire situation leads to the easy apprehension of the alien family, followed by the most mind-blowing ending one could ever conceive.
Yet, to fully understand the many complexities of "Mac and Me," one must first look back at "E.T.," the comparisons to which are frequent and many. The entire basis of "Mac of Me" is unapologetically lifted from its 1982 predecessor: Boy befriends short, pudgy alien with good intentions; government is quickly nipping at the his heels; said boy recruits the help of his older brother and a group of neighborhood friends to save the short, pudgy alien from being caught. If that weren't blatant enough, there's even a scene where Eric is eluding feds in his wheelchair (alien in tow) in a suburban SoCal neighborhood. The only thing missing are the airborne bicycles. Even the title itself is a ripoff of the original working title for "E.T.": "E.T. and Me."
Blatant plagiarism aside, "Mac and Me" is easily the funnier movie of the two by a long shot. Of course, whether or not that was intentional is up for debate, but it's hard to overlook a five-minute long McDonald's dance sequence...or the various wheelchair stunts...or the grocery store scene rife with cheesy '80s product placement. The decade of excess was just starting to wind down, and the hip, exploratory '90s were just around the corner. For all intents and purposes, "Mac and Me" is an '80s movie through and through, yet it comes off more as a movie trying desperately to encompass an entire decade's worth of influences rather than any original thought.
"Mac and Me" can best be described as a drunk uncle at a family party; enough time has passed that you can look back and chuckle fondly, but at the time it was an embarrassing train wreck. The cult status has grown over the years and, unfortunately for everyone involved with the movie, it is probably more popular now than it ever was. Being compared to the likes of "Troll 2" and "Battlefield Earth" is never a good thing, but "Mac and Me" is not without its charm.
I genuinely regard this as one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, ranking right up there with "Caddyshack." True hilarity in its purest form is unintentional, and when it comes to "Mac and Me," you're assuredly laughing at Mac, not with him. In a poor attempt to reinvent the wheel and score one final cash grab from the juggernaut that was "E.T.," this haphazard schlock gem was brought into being, and I, for one, think we are all better for it.