I am surprised there isn't a thread for this film. I had vague memories of renting it from the video store as a kid, so I decided to buy the Blu-ray that was released a couple of weeks ago. Man, what a glorious late-'80s campfest! The humor is your standard "fish out of water," but it is done quite well. Kim Basinger has better comic ability than I realized—she is very funny in this. Dan Aykroyd and Jon Lovitz co-star, and there is also young Alyson Hannigan, Seth Green, and Juliette Lewis in supporting parts. I don't know if it has much of a cult following or not, but it should.
I watched it recently for the first time in a long time. I remembered loving it as a kid. As an adult...meh.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | December 28, 2021 5:33 AM |
One of my favorite so bad it is good films..
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | December 28, 2021 5:37 AM |
I remember Gary Franklin an LA TV film critic (who liked to pick unique best 10 lists etc.) named her the Best Actress of that year for this.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | December 28, 2021 5:44 AM |
"I am surprised there isn't a thread for this film."
Really?
Are you?
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | December 28, 2021 7:07 AM |
Hey OP. I had to reread your post because I almost thought I wrote it because I agree haha
I also bought the Arrow Blu-ray. I wasn't sure if the movie would hold up but it does.
I agree about Kim Basinger. She's actually a terrific comedic actress. She was also very good in Blind Date and Nadine which came out a year before. I think comedy is her strong suit.
I also love the soundtrack. Always loved "Room to Move" by Animotion (when Cynthia Rhodes was the lead singer).
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | December 28, 2021 7:51 AM |
My favourite campy comedy. Thanks for the reminder - time to watch it again!
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | December 28, 2021 8:02 AM |
A writer named 'Jerico', who has only one other screenwriting credit, developed the story of "My Stepmother Is an Alien "under the working title 'They’re Coming' as a drama; “my original script was an allegory about child abuse”. He pitched this version of the story to Paramount Pictures in 1981. Paramount agreed to option the story and paid him to write the screenplay, but felt it would be more believable as a comedy.
Jerico’s original screenplay wasn’t a fluffy comedy. The script was, as one Hollywood executive described it, “a very real, terrifying story.”
“I wanted to reach kids in a way that wouldn’t make the story just a disease-of-the-week TV movie. And after certain incidents I’d experienced, I realized I could tell the story as a fable, a fairy tale that would make it easier for kids to grasp the child abuse angle.”
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | December 28, 2021 8:14 AM |
R8 on the Blu-ray there is an interview with Richard Benjamin where he says the original screenplay played out like a horror film. I'd love to read it.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | December 28, 2021 5:39 PM |
R5 sorry you have no taste, you cunt.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 28, 2021 5:40 PM |
Ann Prentiss did the voice for "Bag."
She sounds a great deal like her sister Paula.
She wound up assaulting her father and placing a hit on Richard Benjamin and her nephew Ross not all that soon after this film was released and subsequently died in prison.
I'm thinking this film was a hot mess behind the scenes.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | December 29, 2021 12:05 AM |
If I remember correctly, Shelley Long nearly played Celeste. Richard Benjamin had directed her in The Money Pit.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | December 29, 2021 12:30 AM |