Review of Mac and Me (1988) by Robin W — 24 Jul 2010

In the annals of obnoxious movie product placement, no film is more infamous than "Mac and Me", a blatant "E.T." ripoff where even the title contains a plug for McDonald's; the film's explanation is that "Mac" is simply an abbreviation for"mysterious alien creature", but when it presents a scene where the characters randomly talk about how they're in the mood for a Big Mac, you can't help but be skeptical.

Believe it or not, the film's original trailer actually focused mainly on Ronald McDonald and plugged the fact that this was his movie debut, but he's only in "Mac and Me" for about a minute or so; he pops up during a bizarre sequence that is easily the most surreal example of product placement in cinema history, as the plot grinds to a dead halt so that the characters can attend a birthday party at McDonald's that features a bunch of elaborately choreographed dance numbers! While that sequence serves no purpose in the film except to plug McDonald's, Coca-Cola has the honour of being of primary importance to the plot as the alien creatures become addicted to it and wind up having to drink it to survive! Anyway, "Mac and Me" isn't really a bad film per se, as it's perfectly acceptable for kids and it certainly does provide a lot of entertainment value for adults; if you've ever seen the infamous clip from the film that Paul Rudd screened on Conan where the kid in the wheelchair falls off a cliff into the river, you know what kind of hilarity to expect!