''Making Mr. Right'' is a 1987 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

romantic comedy film directed by

Susan Seidelman Susan Seidelman (Born December 11, 1952) is an American film director, producer, and writer. She first came to notice with '' Smithereens'' (1982), the earliest American independent feature to be screened in Competition at the Cannes Film Festiva ...

; starring

John Malkovich John Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awa ...

as Jeff Peters/Ulysses and

Ann Magnuson Ann Magnuson (born January 4, 1956) is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by ''The New York Times'' in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as L ...

as Frankie Stone. This film is primarily about the misadventures between an android and a woman.

Plot

Jeff Peters (

) is an emotionally repressed scientist who cannot stand others because of their intellectual inferiority. He dreams of deep space exploration, which would be difficult because of the lack of human contact for long periods of time. He develops the Ulysses android (which looks exactly like him) for the purpose of space exploration, since an android would not be affected by the isolation. Frankie Stone (

) is hired to do public relations for the project. As a part of her job, she must get to know the android better, in order to "humanize" him for the benefit of the project's sponsors in Congress. However, in his interaction with her, the android develops emotions and develops better social skills than the scientist himself. At one point the android impersonates Jeff in order to leave the laboratory, and stows away in Frankie's

Chevrolet Corvair The Chevrolet Corvair is a compact car manufactured by Chevrolet for model years 1960–1969 in two generations. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it remains the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car with a rear-mounted, a ...

. After escaping he encounters human society at a shopping mall, buys a tuxedo, goes on a date with a woman named Sandy McCleary (

Laurie Metcalf Laura Elizabeth Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an American actress. Often described as a character actor, she's known for her complex and versitile roles across the stage and screen. She has received various accolades throughout her career s ...

) who thinks he is Jeff, reducing her to an emotional wreck, and then loses his head (literally) over Frankie's best friend Trish (

Glenne Headly Glenne Aimee Headly (March 13, 1955 – June 8, 2017) was an American actress. She was widely known for her roles in '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'', '' Dick Tracy'', and '' Mr. Holland's Opus''. Headly received a Theatre World Award and four Josep ...

) who has taken refuge in Frankie's apartment after walking out on her husband who is a star on the popular daytime soap opera ''New Jersey''. Frankie also develops feelings for the android and befriends Jeff on a lesser level. Frankie's mother Estelle Stone, (

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in '' The Helen ...

) learns from Frankie's ex-boyfriend's mother that Frankie has a doctor boyfriend (Jeff) and expects Frankie to bring him to the wedding of Frankie's sister Ivy Stone. Frankie persuades Jeff to come, but Ulysses again absconds from the lab and gate-crashes the wedding. Trish's jealous TV-star husband crashes the wedding as well and gets into a fight with Ulysses. Ulysses short-circuits and crashes into the swimming pool, turning the occasion into a public relations disaster. Frankie is fired from her job and forbidden contact with Ulysses or anyone on the project. She attempts to say goodbye on launch day by using her connections with a former client and boyfriend Steve Marcus, a candidate for Congress, but she only sees Ulysses during his farewell speech, in which he bemoans humanity's difficulty in forming relationships, both platonic and romantic. However, Ulysses appears at Frankie's front door during the launch; Jeff actually presented that final speech himself, having realized his creation has become more empathic than him. As the lack of human contact of a seven-year space mission will not be a hardship for him due to asociality, Jeff decided to go into space while the android takes his place on Earth so Ulysses and Frankie (who by now are deeply in love) can be together.

Cast

as Dr. Jeff Peters/Ulysses *

as Frankie Stone *

as Trish *

Ben Masters Benjamin Masters (May 6, 1947 – January 11, 2023) was an American actor who is best known for his portrayal of Julian Crane in daytime drama ''Passions'' from July 8, 1999, to the show's final episode on August 7, 2008. Early life Masters wa ...

as Steve Marcus *

as Sandra "Sandy" McCleary *

as Estelle Stone * Harsh Nayyar as Dr. Ramdas *

Hart Bochner Hart Matthew Bochner (born October 3, 1956) is a Canadian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. He has appeared in films such as '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' Terror Train'' (1980), '' Rich and Famous'' (1981), '' The Wild Life'' (1984 ...

as Don *

Susan Berman Susan Jane Berman (May 18, 1945 – December 23, 2000) was an American journalist and author. The daughter of mobster David Berman, she wrote about her late-in-life realization of her father's role in organized crime. In 2000, Berman was f ...

as Ivy Stone *

Polly Draper Polly Carey Draper (born June 15, 1955) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. Draper has received several awards, including a Writers Guild of America Award (WGA), and is noted for speaking in a "trademark throaty voice." She g ...

as Suzy Duncan *

Christian Clemenson Christian Dayton Clemenson (born March 17, 1958) is an American film and television actor. He is well known for his portrayal of Jerry "Hands" Espenson in the television series ''Boston Legal'', for which he was nominated for three Emmy Awards a ...

as Bruce * Merwin Goldsmith as Moe Glickstein

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics, as it holds a 53% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

from 15 reviews.

Home media

''Making Mr. Right'' was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on April 1, 2003.

References

External links

* *
Making Mr. Right
at

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...