Editing Making Mr. Right

{{Short description|1987 film by Susan Seidelman}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2009}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Making Mr. Right
| image          = Making mr right.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Susan Seidelman]]
| producer       = [[Joel Tuber]]
| writer         = [[Floyd Byars]]<br>[[Laurie Frank]]
| narrator       =
| starring       = {{Plainlist |
* [[John Malkovich]]
* [[Ann Magnuson]]
}}
| music          = [[Chaz Jankel]]
| cinematography = Edward Lachman
| editing        = [[Andrew Mondshein]]
| studio         = [[Barry & Enright Productions]]
| distributor    = [[Orion Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1987|04|03}}
| runtime        = 99 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $9 million
| gross          = $1,584,970
}}'''''Making Mr. Right''''' is a 1987 American [[science fiction film|science fiction]] [[romantic comedy|romantic comedy film]] directed by [[Susan Seidelman]]; starring [[John Malkovich]] as Jeff Peters/Ulysses and [[Ann Magnuson]] as Frankie Stone.<ref>{{cite journal
 | first=David | last=Denby | title=Making Mr. Wrong
 | date=April 27, 1987 | publisher=New York Media
 | journal=New York Magazine | page=125 | volume=20 | issue=17
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KeUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA125
 | accessdate=2009-06-23
}}</ref><ref>''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' film review; 25 March 1987</ref> It is a loose remake of the 1967 Soviet science fiction film ''[[His Name Was Robert]]''.

This film is primarily about the misadventures between an [[Android (robot)|android]] and a woman.

==Plot==
Dr. Jeff Peters ([[John Malkovich]]) is an emotionally repressed scientist who cannot stand others because of their intellectual inferiority. He dreams of deep space exploration, which would be difficult because of the lack of human contact for long periods of time. He develops the Ulysses android (which looks exactly like him) for the purpose of space exploration, since an android would not be affected by the isolation.

Frankie Stone ([[Ann Magnuson]]) is hired to do public relations for the project.  She meets project manager Dr. Ramdas ([[Harsh Nayyar]]) and Jeff, who both give Frankie an overview of the Ulysses project.  As a part of her job, she must get to know the android better, in order to "humanize" him for the benefit of the project's sponsors in Congress. However, in his interaction with her, the android develops emotions and develops better social skills than Jeff himself. At one point, the android impersonates Jeff in order to leave the laboratory, and stows away in Frankie's [[Chevrolet Corvair]]. After escaping, he encounters human society at a shopping mall, buys a tuxedo, goes on a date with a woman named Sandy McCleary ([[Laurie Metcalf]]) who thinks he is Jeff, reducing her to an emotional wreck, and then loses his head (literally) over Frankie's best friend Trish ([[Glenne Headly]]) who has taken refuge in Frankie's apartment after walking out on her husband who is a star on the popular daytime soap opera ''New Jersey''.

Frankie also develops feelings for the android and befriends Jeff on a lesser level. Frankie's mother Estelle Stone, ([[Polly Bergen]]) learns from Frankie's ex-boyfriend's mother that Frankie has a doctor boyfriend (Jeff) and expects Frankie to bring him to the wedding of Frankie's sister Ivy Stone. Frankie persuades Jeff to come, but Ulysses again absconds from the lab and gate-crashes the wedding.  Trish's jealous TV-star husband crashes the wedding as well and gets into a fight with Ulysses. Ulysses short-circuits and crashes into the swimming pool, turning the occasion into a public relations disaster. Frankie is fired from her job and forbidden contact with Ulysses or anyone on the project. She then uses her connections with a former client and boyfriend Steve Marcus, a candidate for Congress to attend Ulysses’ launch day in an attempt to say goodbye to Ulysses, but is rebuffed by Jeff and then forced to leave by Dr. Ramdas. Ulysses then gives his farewell speech, in which he bemoans humanity's difficulty in forming relationships, both platonic and romantic.

However, Ulysses appears at Frankie's front door during the launch; Jeff actually presented that final speech himself, having realized his creation has become more empathic than him. As the lack of human contact of a seven-year space mission will not be a hardship for him due to asociality, Jeff decided to go into space while the android takes his place on Earth so Ulysses and Frankie (who by now are deeply in love) can be together.

==Cast==
*[[John Malkovich]] as Dr. Jeff Peters/Ulysses
*[[Ann Magnuson]] as Frankie Stone
*[[Glenne Headly]] as Trish
*[[Ben Masters]] as Steve Marcus
*[[Laurie Metcalf]] as Sandra "Sandy" McCleary
*[[Polly Bergen]] as Estelle Stone
*[[Harsh Nayyar]] as Dr. Ramdas
*[[Hart Bochner]] as Don
*[[Susan Berman (actress)|Susan Berman]] as Ivy Stone
*[[Polly Draper]] as Suzy Duncan
*[[Christian Clemenson]] as Bruce
*[[Merwin Goldsmith]] as Moe Glickstein

==Reception==
The film received mixed reviews from critics, as it holds a 53% rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] from 15 reviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/making_mr_right|title=Making Mr. Right|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] }}</ref>

==Home media==
''Making Mr. Right'' was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on April 1, 2003.

==See also==
* [[List of American films of 1987]]
* ''[[The Perfect Woman (1949 film)|The Perfect Woman]]''
* ''[[His Name Was Robert]]''
* ''[[How to Build a Better Boy]]''

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0093477|title=Making Mr. Right}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|making_mr_right|Making Mr. Right}}
*[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/82474/making-mr-right#overview Making Mr. Right] at [[Turner Classic Movies]] 
*{{Mojo title|makingmrright|Making Mr. Right}}
*{{AFI film|id=57728|title=Making Mr. Right}}

{{Susan Seidelman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Making Mister Right}}
[[Category:1987 films]]
[[Category:Films about androids]]
[[Category:1980s science fiction comedy films]]
[[Category:1987 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:Orion Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Susan Seidelman]]
[[Category:Films set in Miami]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:American science fiction comedy films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Chaz Jankel]]
[[Category:1987 science fiction films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]