--- title: "Mac and Me" year: 1988 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/mac-and-me" fi1m_score: 30 critics_score: 19 critics_reviews: 7 published: "2026-09-16T14:29:45.301547+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T14:29:45.569815+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Mac and Me (1988) Directed by Stewart Raffill · 1h 39m · MPA PG · Family, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure **Fi1m score: 30** · Critics 19 from 7 reviews *In a sentence:* The soft drinks get more attention than the alien > A laboured alien friendship smothered in product placement, with Jade Calegory providing the small amount of warmth that survives. The treatment of his wheelchair-using character is welcome; the storytelling gives us little reason to stay. ## Synopsis Eric Cruise (Jade Calegory) is new to the neighbourhood; an alien called Mac is new to the planet. After a laboratory escape, Mac encounters Eric, a boy who uses a wheelchair and has unfamiliar surroundings of his own to navigate. Eric’s efforts to settle in now include getting to know the visitor. Around them are Janet Cruise (Christine Ebersole), Michael Cruise (Jonathan Ward) and Debbie (Lauren Stanley). Eric tries to make a friend of Mac, but even ordinary life here is unfamiliar to his new companion. ## Review Stewart Raffill’s *Mac and Me* is a poor family film with a likeable child at its centre and a dispiriting amount to sell. It wants an alien’s friendship with a boy to provide wonder, mischief and reassurance, all reasonable things to want from this sort of story. Yet the attention paid to McDonald’s and Coca-Cola keeps making the friendship seem incidental. Most critics have little patience with it, and we share their chief complaint: the advertising gets in the way of caring about anyone. We warmed to Jade Calegory because Eric Cruise is allowed to be a child who uses a wheelchair without every appearance becoming a request for pity. He gives the friendship some credibility simply by seeming worth spending time with. This is a welcome exception to the film’s habit of pressing too hard for a response. The handling of disability is matter-of-fact, and the performance has a directness that makes the surrounding clumsiness harder to excuse. The screenplay by Stewart Raffill and Steve Feke follows the familiar family science-fiction business of a child befriending an alien. The resemblance to [*E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial*](https://film.one/film/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial) has been much remarked upon, but familiarity alone would not sink it; plenty of children’s films earn their keep with an old story. The problem is how little curiosity the writing shows about this particular friendship. At 99 minutes, there is room to make Eric and Mac interesting company, yet their bond rarely feels worth the fuss being made around it. Nick McLean gives the photography some movement and energy, which helps a film so short of invention elsewhere. There is an effort to keep the action lively, even when the scenes themselves offer little to discover. W. Stewart Campbell’s production design fares less well in a picture whose most forceful visual details are recognisable commercial names. The alien’s awkward appearance and unconvincing puppetry also make affection hard work; we keep noticing the effects when the scene needs us to notice Mac. Tom Walls’s editing does little to give the friendship momentum, and the film keeps losing our interest between bouts of activity. Alan Silvestri’s music reaches for wonder and affection, but cannot make those feelings follow from what the characters do. Neither contribution makes the boy and the alien’s company sufficiently engaging to sustain a feature. The breakdancing supplies movement, certainly, but it also exposes the difficulty: a family adventure can be busy for a long stretch without becoming involving. We were irritated by the product placement because it repeatedly drew our attention away from the boy we had begun to like. McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Skittles are prominent enough to make the attempts at innocent fun difficult to accept. A simple adventure needs clear stakes and people worth following, and the brands keep distracting from both. Anyone coming for accidental comedy may find the incongruity amusing, though the joke lasts longer than our amusement did. We would leave this one to collectors of particularly intrusive advertising. *Fi1m score 30, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are unanimously negative on Mac and Me, with most critics finding an E.T. imitation whose alien friendship story is overwhelmed by product placement. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola recur in complaints that the film gives selling things more attention than storytelling, while the alien designs and basic filmmaking draw further criticism. The limited praise centres on the casting and treatment of the wheelchair-using young lead, which several critics find refreshingly free of sentimentality or exploitation. The spread is narrow: no review offers even a mixed assessment, though the critics differ over what deserves rescuing. The Los Angeles Times finds charm in the lead performance and some life in the camera style, whereas The AV Club condemns the puppetry, alien design and filmmaking. Time Out’s approval of the child star’s treatment is similarly qualified by its finding that the direction lacks wit or invention. ### Reviews we read (7) - **Los Angeles Times**, Michael Wilmington (30/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as an unoriginal, bald-faced copy of E.T. overloaded with McDonald's product placement and weak execution. He singles out the lively camera style and the charming performance of the young wheelchair-using lead actor for praise. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-15-ca-300-story.html) - **Empire**, Mark Salisbury (20/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as little more than a blatant marketing exercise packed with product placement for McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Skittles, overshadowing any story about an alien befriending a disabled boy. The only relief comes at the end, with relief that no sequels followed its commercial failure. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/mac-2-review/) - **Slant Magazine**, Keith Uhlich (20/100, inferred): The critic humorously declares a day for the film but recounts its ridiculous scenes like the wheelchair cliff plunge and breakdancing, concluding it's soul-destroying. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/mac-and-me-day/) - **Time Out**, TCh (20/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's non-sentimental, non-exploitative handling of its wheelchair-using child star but finds little else worthwhile. The direction lacks wit or invention, the story is a blatant E.T. knockoff, and it is overwhelmed by product placement and crass commercialism. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/mac-and-me) - **The AV Club**, Nathan Rabin (10/100, inferred): The critic lambasts the film as a shameless E.T. knockoff filled with blatant product placement for McDonald's and Coca-Cola, criticizing its poor puppetry, incompetent filmmaking, and repulsive alien design. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/ronald-mcdonald-approved-case-file-151-mac-and-me-1798218494) - **Collider**, Lloyd Farley (20/100, inferred): The critic describes Mac and Me as a failed E.T. rip-off with bad acting and laughable alien designs, hampered by blatant product placement from McDonald's and Coca-Cola. He notes its lasting impact through Paul Rudd's Conan gag and Jennifer Aniston's early appearance. [Read](https://collider.com/mac-and-me-mcdonalds/) - **Consequence**, Clint Worthington (10/100, inferred): The critic calls Mac and Me a blatant, soulless rip-off of E.T. loaded with product placement, a completely derivative disaster that represents crass 80s consumerism enabled by Reagan-era deregulation. He praises the progressive casting of a disabled actor but notes the cheap look and feel. [Read](https://consequence.net/2018/08/mac-and-me-how-ronald-reagan-paved-the-way-for-one-of-the-worst-kids-movies-ever/) ## Details - **Director:** Stewart Raffill - **Director:** Stewart Raffill - **Writer:** Stewart Raffill, Steve Feke - **Cinematography:** Nick McLean - **Editor:** Tom Walls - **Music:** Alan Silvestri - **Production design:** W. Stewart Campbell - **Producer:** R.J. Louis - **Cast:** Christine Ebersole as Janet Cruise; Jonathan Ward as Michael Cruise; Tina Caspary as Courtney; Lauren Stanley as Debbie; Jade Calegory as Eric Cruise; Vinnie Torrente as Mitford; Martin West as Wickett; Ivan J. Rado as Zimmerman - **Runtime:** 1h 39m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 12 August 1988 - **Genres:** Family, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure - **Box office:** $6 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmtNfFTmPO8 ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AU, BE, BG, CA, CZ, FR, GB, HR, HU, IE, LT, NL, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director 1989: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (won) - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star 1989: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star (won) - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture 1989: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture (nominated) - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay 1989: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay (nominated) ## If you liked this - *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial* (1982), Fi1m 91: A child and an alien become friends, with time to make us care. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial.md) - *The Iron Giant* (1999), Fi1m 88: Another unlikely friendship, given clear stakes and room for awkward affection. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-iron-giant.md) - *The Brother from Another Planet* (1984): An alien visitor prompts sharper questions about the humans taking him in. - *The Red Balloon* (1956): A child’s improbable companion needs no dialogue to make the friendship matter. - *My Neighbour Totoro* (1988), Fi1m 89: Children meet strange creatures in a film that trusts their curiosity. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/my-neighbor-totoro.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/mac-and-me