Color, 1988, 99 mins. 17 secs.
Directed by Stewart Raffill
Starring Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Ward, Jade Calegory, Lauren Stanley, Tina Caspary, Vinnie Torrente
Vinegar Syndrome (UHD & Blu-ray) (US R0/A 4K/HD), Shout! Factory (Blu-ray) (US RA HD), MGM (DVD) (US R1 NTSC) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9)

In the summer of 1988, moviegoers who happened to buy tickets for nice, normal films like The Blob, Cocktail, Die Hard, or Monkey Shines had a brief out-of-body experience when their senses were assaulted by a very special theatrical trailer. Hailing from Orion Pictures in the wake of its hit Bull Durham, here was an apparent copycat of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial about a kid in a wheelchair who becomes buddies with a bug-eyed alien... except this also featured a big dance number in a McDonald's, complete with a grinning Ronald himself hosting this as "his first big movie." Was this a real movie, or was it some kind of elaborate practical joke? As the world soon found out, Mac and Me was very much a genuine film, and it wasn't even a deranged Italian cash-in shot in the States like the later Troll 2. Nope, this was a 100% all-American slice of cinematic insanity coming half a decade after Steven Spielberg's record-breaking box office hit, and somehow they even got Broadway legend Christine Ebersole to take on the Dee Wallace role here. Not surprisingly, few bothered to show up when the film opened in August, but its delirious charms soon earned it a cult reputation via VHS, cable TV, and eventually DVD and Blu-ray. Of course, it eventually rocketed its way into pop culture immortality when Paul Rudd began regularly featuring one of the most astounding moments from the film as a running gag whenever he was interviewed by Conan O'Brien, though as of this writing, Rudd has yet to provide an audio commentary.

In between rampant product placements, our story involves an alien family on a barren planet who get drawn into a visiting NASA space probe about to head back to Earth. Upon arrival, they escape from the government base where they land and go into hiding. All but one of them end up in the desert while the youngest, soon nicknamed Mac, ends up sneaking a ride home with the Cruise family including mom Janet (Ebersole) and sons Michael (Ward) and Eric (Calegory). Soon the kids are getting blamed for Mac's hijinks, but the alien proves his loyalty when he saves Eric from a near-death incident in his wheelchair. With the aid of friend Debbie (Stanley) and her older sister Courtney (Caspary), the kids manage to take Mac around town including a show-stopping birthday party jam at the local McDonald's. However, the FBI is closing in and will soon imperil the friendship formed by these interstellar pals.

No synopsis can truly do justice to the brain-altering experience of watching Mac and Me, which is packed with jaw-dropping moments that have understandably made it a frequent party movie starting with younger Gen X-ers and working its way through subsequent generations. The template from Spielberg's film is more or less followed here, but the execution is a whole different animal with a deranged finale you won't believe. Notoriously, the climax was even more insane during test screenings with an extra bit of gunfire mayhem that still survived in the Japanese release and became the stuff of online legend when it resurfaced. In technical terms the film actually has some strong points in its favor, namely a solid score by Alan Silvestri (who somehow did this the same years as Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and some performances that actually aren't bad if you take them in the right kid-friendly spirit. Even the hand of director Stewart Raffill (The Philadelphia Experiment) is actually pretty steady when it comes to blocking and action sequences, but the core concept is so utterly nuts that even Spielberg himself couldn't have turned it into a serious blockbuster.

Initially released on VHS by Orion and laserdisc by Image Entertainment, Mac and Me passed on to the MGM library when its parent company folded and made its way to no-frills DVD in 2005. In 2018, Shout! Factory released a Blu-ray special edition featuring an okay widescreen transfer, with DTS-HD MA 2.0 English stereo audio with optional English SDH subtitles. Raffill appears for a good audio commentary with Marc Edward Heuck (though this being MGM, some material has obviously been censored out) and a "That Little Mac in the Sky" interview (15m15s), between which you get to find out pretty much anything you could want to know about the people needed to operate the aliens, the child casting, the sponsorship deals with McDonald's and Coca-Cola, and the edicts about how to approach the film for a very young audience. In "Down To Earth" (4m13s), songwriter Allee Willis briefly goes into her GRAMMY-honored career and her work on this film including its connection to Pee-wee Herman and the Color Purple musical, all while wearing a very appropriately colored red and yellow outfit. The theatrical and home video trailers are also included along with three TV spots and a 4m50s gallery.

In 2025, Vinegar Syndrome upgraded the film to UHD with a Blu-ray as well featuring a fresh new 4K scan from the original camera negative, and the difference is very dramatic. Colors are much richer and more impressive here, detail gets a strong uptick, and quite a bit of extra image info is now visible on the sides; the UHD in particular looks quite punchy with the HDR10-compatible Dolby Vision bringing out those reds and yellows like never before. Interestingly, this also corrects the opening outer space sequence to the initial blue color timing versus the unfiltered, broad daylight appearance on the prior Blu-ray. Again the DTS-HD MA 2.0 English stereo sounds great with lots of separation for the music and sound effects, with optional English SDH subtitles included.

All of the Raffill-oriented extras have been replaced here including a new audio commentary with Cinematic Void's Jim Branscome and a new video interview, "Strange Adventure" (12m26s), about his marching orders to make a more action-heavy variation on E.T. and a general overview of the production. The commentary is as informative as the previous one as he spins out details about the kid actors (including the apparent fleeting participation of a young Jennifer Aniston), the shooting in and outside of L.A., the product placement requirements, and more. A second new commentary with film historians Wayne Byrne and Paul Farren is also very much worth a listen and full of tons of background about the major crew members, particularly focusing on the two gentlemen featured in the next featurette, "Balance" (16m31s). Here cinematographer Nick McLean and camera operator Michael D. O'Shea chat about their backgrounds in the industry under greats like Vilmos Zsigmond, the lessons learned that came in handy on this film, the professional significance of Stroker Ace, O'Shea's hard-partying reputation early on, and memories from this shoot. "Alien Puppeteer" (8m46s) is an audio interview with alien designer/puppeteer Christopher Swift about the creation of the puppet, a meaningful moment later on with Paul Rudd, and the process of getting hired for this film. In a major coup, "Down Memory Lane" (16m29s) features Ebersole looking back at getting hired by Raffill just after moving from New York to L.A., coming to this just after Thief of Hearts, and having fun with the entire production. The "Down to Earth" Willis interview is ported over here, and you also get that infamous alternate shooting sequence (7m34s) sourced from VHS plus the usual trailer, home video trailer, TV spots, and gallery. The limited edition also comes with a hefty 40-page book featuring new essays by Simon Abrams, Justin LaLiberty, and Austin Trunick laying out the often misunderstood specifics of the involvement of McDonald's, the film's production history, its enduring cult appeal, and its significance in the pop culture landscape.

VINEGAR SYNDROME (UHD)

SHOUT! FACTORY (Blu-ray)

Reviewed on October 20, 2025