Underplayed Gems

My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)

My Stepmother Is an Alien poster
Directed by
Richard Benjamin
Genre
science fiction film, science fiction comedy, romantic comedy
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 44m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
5.8 of 10 from 601 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

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How it feels

An alien woman is sent to Earth on a secret mission after a scientist accidentally disrupts her planet's gravity. She tries to blend in as a new stepmother to his daughter.

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What happens

My Stepmother Is an Alien is a 1988 American science fiction comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Kim Basinger, and Jon Lovitz. The film follows the story of Celeste, an extraterrestrial woman who is sent on a secret mission to Earth, after her home planet's gravity is mistakenly disrupted by Steven Mills, a widowed scientist raising his daughter Jessie as a single father. The film was the film debut of Juliette Lewis. The screenplay was written by Herschel Weingrod, Timothy Harris, and Jonathan Reynolds, based on an earlier script by Jericho Stone. Stone had originally pitched the film to Paramount Pictures as a drama that would serve as an allegory for child abuse. When Paramount optioned the story, they suggested that it would be more believable as a comedy. The film was unproduced for four years until Weintraub Entertainment Group put it into production in 1988. My Stepmother Is an Alien was a box-office bomb, grossing only $13.8 million against a $19 million budget. The film also received negative reviews from critics, with most of the responses panning the film's humor and screenplay. Basinger and Lovitz received generally favorable reviews for their comedic performances, but in a New York Times review, Aykroyd was singled out for criticism for his performance as a romantic lead. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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