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Making Mr. Right

Play trailer Poster for Making Mr. Right PG-13 1987 1h 38m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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60% Tomatometer 15 Reviews 36% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Workaholic scientist Jeff Peters (John Malkovich) invents a human-like android named Ulysses, a near-perfect replica of himself with the ability to learn how to mimic and reciprocate human emotion. Unfortunately, the misanthropic Peters doesn't care for other people himself, so he brings in sassy public relations expert Frankie Stone (Ann Magnuson) to teach Ulysses how to schmooze so that Congress will fund his research. Unexpectedly, Frankie and Ulysses find themselves falling in love.

Critics Reviews

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Henry Sheehan Chicago Reader 05/09/2022
3/4
With one eye on contemporary life, and another on life the way she’d like to see it, Susan Seidelman is in the mode of a classic satirist. But she’s an amiable one. Go to Full Review
Janet Maslin New York Times 05/20/2003
3/5
Adds up to somewhat less than the sum of its parts, but the parts are often delightful, particularly when Ms. Seidelman keeps them moving at a sufficiently furious pace. Go to Full Review
Rita Kempley Washington Post 01/01/2000
Screenwriters Floyd Byars and Laurie Frank's flapjack-flat characters meander through a slack plot that aims to address love between life-forms. Go to Full Review
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid 05/20/2023
3/4
It starts with a silly idea, but it gets under the surface with some genuinely funny and touching human moments. Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 11/20/2019
3.5/4
Filmmaker Susan Seidelman has infused Making Mr. Right with a funky, irreverent feel that ultimately does prove rather difficult to resist... Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 12/26/2006
C
The film's fake feminist message is at its most cyncial: Real men are repulsive but androids (created by women) are sweet, sensitive, and open-minded. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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04/11/2024 It's hard to meet mr. right but even tougher making him right Susan Seidelman, director of 'Desperately Seeking Susan' makes a romantic comedy meets robotic science starring John Malkovich and Ann Magnusun Public relations expert Frankie Stone has a great career, good friend, and an understanding mother to a degree Yet she's not so lucky finding a man Then a scientist Jeff Peters invents the Ulysses Android for Chemtech Laboratory to be the ultimate service android looking for radiation, space travel, and safety Frankie is more used to promoting people not hardware but this could prove good for her career Peters is hoping Congress will fund his research Yet the android looks exactly like Peters and although he's specifically designed to follow orders like a machine by mimicking and reciprocating human emotion he ends up falling in love with her From then on it complicated things for both of them There's barely any huge laughs going on in this and there's not too many scenes of Ulysses and Frankie together Less than the sum of its parts but tries its best to act as a quirky love story See more Adam E 11/05/2023 Being John Malkovich wouldn't be too bad, if it weren't for Making Mr. Right. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for silly movies involving Malkovich and defective robot clones but only as long as they reach guilty pleasure heights. Parts of Making Mr Right definitely qualify. Take the scene where the android's butt ends up on his belly button: great but oh so short. Unfortunately, the film just doesn't live up to its pleasantly absurd premise. Too much time is spent with Ann Magnuson's Frankie as she's putting on make-up/going to meetings/driving around when we were promised early on an android with awesome super powers. Needless to say that once Malkovich's robotic man-child finally leaves the lab to face the real world, nothing particularly exciting happens. We get to see him hang around a mall, buy a suit and get together with some side character off-camera. The film builds up to a wedding, which doesn't feel important to the plot in the slightest. Who is getting married you ask? One of Frankie's friends we only met once very briefly. Great. Imagine having John Malkovich in your robot double movie and THIS is what the film decides to focus on. Granted, there's a space shuttle at one point but stock footage doesn't count. Malkovich is great and seeing him with so much hair is a near religious experience. He plays dual parts effortlessly and takes the opportunity to practice for his part in Of Mice And Men. His characters are shamefully misused, however, as the film settles for watered-down rom-com clichés rather than Inspector Gadget-style man-bot hijinks. That Making Mr. Right is THIS forgotten of a movie makes a lot of sense seeing as it's a thoroughly forgettable film. The dire storyline is fatally uninspired, it takes way too long for anything to happen and when it finally does it's just not what it needed to be. On the plus side, there are a few genuinely fun moments and the film is definitely watchable. Odd movie to exist but ok. See more jon c 04/10/2022 It's hard to meet mr. right but even tougher making him right Susan Seidelman, director of 'Desperately Seeking Susan' makes a romantic comedy meets robotic science starring John Malkovich and Ann Magnusun Public relations expert Frankie Stone has a great career, good friend, and an understanding mother to a degree Yet she's not so lucky finding a man Then a scientist Jeff Peters invents the Ulysses Android for Chemtech Laboratory to be the ultimate service android looking for radiation, space travel, and safety Frankie is more used to promoting people not hardware but this could prove good for her career Peters is hoping Congress will fund his research Yet the android looks exactly like Peters and although he's specifically designed to follow orders like a machine by mimicking and reciprocating human emotion he ends up falling in love with her From then on it complicated things for both of them There's barely any huge laughs going on in this and there's not too many scenes of Ulysses and Frankie together Less than the sum of its parts but tries its best to act as a quirky love story See more 12/26/2021 I've watched this movie several times over the years. Although it appears to have mixed reception with critics, I found this to be a very funny movie and the comedic acting was great - especially the character of Sandy. If you haven't seen this, and want to watch something entertaining and fun, check this one out! See more 12/08/2020 Truly delightful and not to be taken too seriously. I loved this movie. See more 05/07/2016 Materialistic 80s feminist falls in love with an android (robot not what is now referred to as a phone) . See more Read all reviews
Making Mr. Right

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Movie Info

Synopsis Workaholic scientist Jeff Peters (John Malkovich) invents a human-like android named Ulysses, a near-perfect replica of himself with the ability to learn how to mimic and reciprocate human emotion. Unfortunately, the misanthropic Peters doesn't care for other people himself, so he brings in sassy public relations expert Frankie Stone (Ann Magnuson) to teach Ulysses how to schmooze so that Congress will fund his research. Unexpectedly, Frankie and Ulysses find themselves falling in love.
Director
Susan Seidelman
Producer
Mike Wise, Joel Tuber
Screenwriter
Floyd Byars, Laurie Frank
Production Co
Orion Pictures
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Jan 7, 2003
Box Office (Gross USA)
$444.8K
Runtime
1h 38m
Sound Mix
Surround