My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)
Directed by Richard Benjamin
Starring Dan Aykroyd, Kim Basinger, Jon Lovitz, and Alyson Hannigan
rklenseth's Star Rating:
My Stepmother Is an Alien is about a lonely and widowed scientist Steven Mills (Dan Aykroyd) who is trying to make contact with alien life in another galaxy via experiments with satellite dishes and lightning. On one stormy night and with his bumbling brother Ron (Jon Lovitz) in tow, Steven is able to send a transmission at the speed of light to another galaxy but the experiment ultimately fries everything including any evidence that he succeeded and he is fired by his employer moments after.
Down on his luck, Steven goes to a party his brother is hosting with his daughter Jessie (Alyson Hannigan) and while at that party he meets the beautiful but kooky Celeste Martin (Kim Basinger) who is actually an alien from the world that Steven's transmission was sent to. Unbeknownst to Steven, the transmission he sent out is dangerously impacting the alien world in another galaxy and that these aliens believe Earth has declared war on them and so they send an agent in the guise of Celeste to charm and find out how they did it and then destroy Earth. But through some misunderstanding between Earth and the alien culture, Steven and Celeste end up getting married instead and actually fall in love with each other. Not long after, though, Steven's daughter Jessie becomes suspicious of her new stepmother.
Now this movie has its comical moments that left me chuckling but most of this film didn't seem very funny and I think the problem was that the audience was in on the joke while the characters in the story bumbled around trying to figure out what was happening. Sometimes this works however here it seems it gave away too much too early. On the other hand, I'm not sure there would have been any other way to tell this story without the audience knowing what was happening.
Dan Aykroyd is all right as the scientist and widowed father and Alyson Hannigan is cute in her film debut but Kim Basinger appeared to be out of her element as the clueless and sexy alien. Basinger does sexy well but the rest of her role seemed awkward and uncomfortable. I would have to say she was too sexy for the role and I think someone like Geena Davis from that era of film would have been a better fit.
All in all, My Stepmother Is an Alien delivers some laughs and the story is mildly amusing and watchable.
Down on his luck, Steven goes to a party his brother is hosting with his daughter Jessie (Alyson Hannigan) and while at that party he meets the beautiful but kooky Celeste Martin (Kim Basinger) who is actually an alien from the world that Steven's transmission was sent to. Unbeknownst to Steven, the transmission he sent out is dangerously impacting the alien world in another galaxy and that these aliens believe Earth has declared war on them and so they send an agent in the guise of Celeste to charm and find out how they did it and then destroy Earth. But through some misunderstanding between Earth and the alien culture, Steven and Celeste end up getting married instead and actually fall in love with each other. Not long after, though, Steven's daughter Jessie becomes suspicious of her new stepmother.
Now this movie has its comical moments that left me chuckling but most of this film didn't seem very funny and I think the problem was that the audience was in on the joke while the characters in the story bumbled around trying to figure out what was happening. Sometimes this works however here it seems it gave away too much too early. On the other hand, I'm not sure there would have been any other way to tell this story without the audience knowing what was happening.
Dan Aykroyd is all right as the scientist and widowed father and Alyson Hannigan is cute in her film debut but Kim Basinger appeared to be out of her element as the clueless and sexy alien. Basinger does sexy well but the rest of her role seemed awkward and uncomfortable. I would have to say she was too sexy for the role and I think someone like Geena Davis from that era of film would have been a better fit.
All in all, My Stepmother Is an Alien delivers some laughs and the story is mildly amusing and watchable.
