Retro Nerd Girl Movie Reviews: My Stepmother Is An Alien 1988 Movie Review

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

My Stepmother Is An Alien 1988 Movie Review - No Spoilers

From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a quick spoiler free film review for you.

Today I'll be reviewing the movie My Stepmother Is An Alien released in 1988.

Starring:
Dan Aykroyd, Kim Basinger, Jon Lovitz

Directed by:
Richard Benjamin

Genre:
Comedy, Sci-Fi

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
PG-13

Budget:
$20,000,000 (estimated)

Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
5.2

The Synopsis is:
Steven Mills is a scientist who sends a signal to a planet 92 light years away in the clouds of Magellan and endangers their world. The aliens send their best operative, Celeste to find out how to set things right.

My review:
Originally the story idea was created by someone by the name of Jerico which was a tale about child abuse and an alien abduction, based on “so called” actual events.

It sounds pretty dark so what happened? Why is this a comedy?

Paramount bought the rights to the story and with the help of about 9 other writers came up with what we see today.

Now this is a warning… The story is completely fantasy based and full of make believe science. If you really need your science to make sense in a film, you might want to totally skip this one.

Now going into it with that knowledge, I found I was able to enjoy the film for much of it’s cheeky and corney comedy.

Celeste is the chief intergalactic probist sent to extract the composition of Steve’s radar beam so she can send another beam back and put her planet in alignment again. Steve doesn’t know how the beam reached her planet, so Celeste thinks he’s lying and is prepared to do whatever it takes to get the information from him.

So it’s a classic fish out of water story setting up moments of awkward comedic moments. Most of them work and then there are a few of them that are borderline on creepy. And what makes things really creepy is that the film makes such a big deal about the sexual relationship between Celeste and Steve. It’s overdone and feels like a male fantasy instead of an actual story with reasonable events happening.

Celeste is completely objectified and it takes over the story when we should be focused on her being an alien and learning about humanity, while trying to gain Steve and his daughter Jessie’s trust. It’s quite a mature subject matter that flies under the radar of a PG 13 rating.

They get married within a day, just so we can have the title make sense in the film, but we only get a very small portion of the movie from the step daughters point of view. But to be completely honest, when we get to that part of the film, it follows a very predictable storyline.

I felt it would have served the story better if Celeste had been up front about being an alien and maybe the human characters not believe her until they see her do something truly “out of this world”.

Instead, they did that thing that most of us hate, when our protagonist hides the truth from the people they are getting close to and at some part toward the end they are discovered and everyone hates them.

The film doesn’t stay on it for too long and brings on the wacky and weird again.

One of the most fun aspects of the film is Celeste’s liaison posing as a one eyed worm in her purse. I thought she was a delightful character that was quite entertaining.

The performances were pretty good. I thought that Kim Basinger was really bubbly and adorable in this role. Any issues I had with what she does with her character really boils down to the written dialogue. I thought she certainly proved that she could have fun with the role and you could see how much gusto she’s putting into her work.

Besides no one will ever forget her Pump Up The Volume striptease. Wow, she was incredible.

For some reason I always seem to enjoy Dan Aykroyd as an actor and perhaps it is because I grew up watching him on Saturday Night Live in the 1970’s and nostalgia has a big part to play in it. I just like him and I like his portrayal of this average but goofy Joe Nerd kind of character.

One of the strangest features in the film is the introduction of the comedic performer, Jimmy Durante from the 1920s and through the 1970s, which was lost on to most audience members. Even myself, knowing who he was, did not find it interesting or fascinating or fun. It really derailed the movie. Not only that the film doubled down on it and inserted a tribute song and dance number in the film for Steve and Celeste to perform together. Talk about awkward.

Thankfully they don't stay on it for too long. There so many great gags in the film like Celeste making and entire restaurant menu for breakfast, the scenes where the bag is visually explaining what different things are on planet earth. All of those scenes were quite funny and got some good chuckles out of me.

I know that the film has been ragged by quite a few reviewers because it makes not one stich of sense, and I agree, but I also think it’s a fun movie with tons of whacky delights.