MAKING MR. RIGHT. Directed by Susan Seidelman; written by Floyd Byars and Laurie Frank; produced by Mike Wise and Joel Tuber for Orion. Starring Ann Magnuson and John Malkovich. Rated PG-13 (sexual innuendoes, but little actual bad language).
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Since the little kids went ape over cute R2D2 and C3PO, won't slightly older ones go for a more realistic, somewhat sexier android? This must be the question the moviemakers asked themselves before bringing us Making Mr. Right.
The problem is that Star Wars had a few other things going for it besides loveable 'droids. Like an engrossing, coherent storyline, for example. It was a space opera, yes, but logical and believeable within its own framework.
If the people responsible for the current movie, on the other hand, had paid as much attention to plot and character development as to costume design, their movie would be much the better for it.
As it is, though, Making Mr. Right is an interesting little flick and there is a pretty good reason to see it in spite of its flaws. But the over-all quality of the movie is disappointing. Maybe its basic idea—that a human woman can find truer happiness with a machine than with any of the real men in her life—is just too squirrely. Or maybe it could have worked better with a little more care.
The main attraction of Making Mr. Right is Malkovich. His previous roles, especially his Oscar-nominated performance as the blind boarder in Places in the Heart, have left no doubt as to his range and ability. Making Mr. Right is a real showcase for his talents. He plays both Jeff, the uptight and vaguely nasty scientist, and his creation, the innocent and loving Ulysses.
Jeff isn't a particularly remarkable character, but Ulysses certainly is. His child-like wonder, curiousity and enthusiasm are perfect and his astonished reactions to the discovery of everyday miracles (such as shopping malls and skyscrapers) are exquisite. Watching Malkovich in action as Ulysses is a real treat, one that almost overcomes the movie's shortcomings.
But, unfortunately, Malkovich's dazzling expertise leads to Making Mr. Right' s major fault—its lack of balance. No one else in the cast is in his class as an actor. And none of the other characters is even a fraction as interesting as Ulysses. So Malkovich ends up in a vacuum. His performance takes on the quality of an acting school exercise—"Pretend to be an android venturing outside the lab for the first time, Mr. Malkovich, if you will." Ulysses is brilliantly portrayed, but hollow, with no one play off.
Magnuson is adequate as Frankie, the hip but basically lonely P.R. whiz who awakens Ulysses' emotions. She has some entertaining bits, such as the one under the credits in which she finishes getting ready for work while driving there. But once Ulysses enters the picture, our interest in her fades pretty quickly. As she's intended to be the audience identification figure, this is bad news for the movie.
The supporting cast includes some interesting eccentrics, such as Susan Berman as Frankie's sister, getting married with an aqua-tinted coif. And Glenne Headly as Frankie's oversexed and underintelligent friend Trish, who unknowingly provides Ulysses' first sexual experience.
All these people are really just somewhat entertaining dingbats, though, and not real characters. But they do wear some intriguing clothes.
April 29, 1987