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

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

romantic comedy film Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Romantic comedy e ...

directed by

Susan Seidelman Susan Seidelman (; born December 11, 1952) is an American film director, producer, and writer. She is known for mixing comedy with drama and blending genres in her feature-film work. She is also notable for her art direction and pop-cultural refe ...

; starring

John Malkovich John Gavin 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 BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and ...

as Jeff Peters/Ulysses and Ann Magnuson as Frankie Stone. It is a loose remake of the 1967 Soviet science fiction film '' His Name Was Robert''. This film is primarily about the misadventures between an android and a woman.

Plot

Dr. 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 ( Ann Magnuson) is hired to do public relations for the project. She meets project manager Dr. Ramdas ( Harsh Nayyar) and Jeff, who both give Frankie an overview of the Ulysses 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 Jeff 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 Rear-engine design, rear-engined, Chevrolet Turbo-Air 6 engine, air-cooled compact car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet over two generations between 1960 and 1969. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it was of ...

. 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 "Laurie" Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an American actress and comedian. Known for her complex and versatile roles across the stage and screen, she has received various accolades throughout a career spanning more than four d ...

) 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 Joseph ...

) 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 (singer), 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 then uses her connections with a former client and boyfriend Steve Marcus, a candidate for Congress to attend Ulysses’ launch day in an attempt to say goodbye to Ulysses, but is rebuffed by Jeff and then forced to leave by Dr. Ramdas. Ulysses then gives 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 * Ann Magnuson as Frankie Stone *

as Trish * Ben Masters 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 TV, film and voice actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. He has appeared in films such as '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' Terror Train'' (1980), '' Rich and Famous'' (1981), '' The ...

as Don * Susan Berman 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 ga ...

as Suzy Duncan * Christian Clemenson 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 aggregator, 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 ...

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 channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...