Astronomer Steven Mills accidentally sends a great surge of energy out into space, threatening life on another world. They respond by dispatching one of their race disguised in deliberately attractive human form to Earth to sort things out called Celeste, accompanied by a rather less attractive superior, in the form of a talking handbag. Steven is indeed attracted, as is his untrustworthy brother, while Celeste becomes increasingly fond of Steven's young daughter.........Back in 1988, it would've probably been a great High Concept idea to get Basinger to play an alien who is slightly amusing for the first fifteen minutes if her arriving to earth, and then fall in love with Dan Ackroyd.But when you boil it all down to the concept and story, it's nothing more than a remake of Splash!, but with aliens and the threat of the end of the world.But the concept is basically the same, man meets girl, girl is odd for the first two acts of the film, ensuring hilarity. Man is totally oblivious to the fact that she is more than slightly different, and both film have a borderline pervert as a brother for the main character.It's all paltry stuff, the two leads are okay, but it's fun to see people like Greene, Hannigan, and Lewis in very young roles.The fashion is atypically eighties, but the less said about the narrative, the better.Bland.

My Stepmother Is an AlienEvery kid thinks their dad's new wife is an alien - a buxom blonde alien that graduated from their high school last year.However, in the case of this sci-fi/comedy, all concerns of step-parental unearthliness are valid.When Steven's (Dan Aykroyd) experiment involving transmitting radio waves into space disrupts an alien planets atmosphere, an envoy, Celeste (Kim Basinger), is dispatched to investigate the potential threat.On Earth, she takes on the guise of a shapely female, who the recently widowed scientist takes an instant shine to.However, Celeste's unorthodox behaviour causes Steven's daughter (Alyson Hannigan) to question her new mother's origins.Meanwhile, Celeste's human experiences cause her to question her planet's imminent invasion.Though marred by hokey effects, a hackneyed script and cornball performances, My Stepmother Is an Alien does have a generous dose of kitschy 80s charm.Incidentally, an extraterrestrial/human marriage involves way fewer appendages than a polyamory one. (Yellow Light)vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Update at November 2008 The title is so perfect for this particular Buffy – Pie fan.Viewing this feature by the standards of the best Science Fiction and Giddy Fiction in the 2000's will show this to be flawed, but I do not love this just for itself.This is dated 1988 and by the standards of SF features of around 1960 it is actually awesome. I do not know how much of that early stuff I could still watch today. I can watch and enjoy this.Alyson is often the flaw in this feature, but is also occasionally a gem. Both of those sides occur in Buffy, along with some other facets, but with the flaws a lot less dominant. In that context I find even the flaws to be optimistic. Hannigan has matured so much.This is a starting point in a big role. Alyson, age 14ish, is clearly Alyson in both this and Buffy, that is until Black Willow took over.I had understood the Buffy unaired pilot to be essential, but checking detail on that it is more a rough of part of season 1 episode 1, more a historian sort of thing. This, Alyson 2 by the filmography that I have seen, is a few notches above that level. There are hidden puzzles such as the second date, but there is more, as if reality noticed this feature and blatantly paid homage.Alyson 1 is Impure Thoughts, 1985 or 1986 depending on the measure. AH is around age 11 and has a really small role. To me it is okay, but anyone who did not have a Catholic education might find it to be the opposite of essential viewing as regards Buffy background.

My brother has a very different way of picking movies than I do. In 1988 he opened a paper and ignorantly selected this. Since I'm generally willing to embrace the role of randomness in the universe, we checked it out. Even I was surprised at how freaking abhorrent it is. Kim Basinger having sex with Dan Aykroyd? No thank you. A purse with a penis-shaped alien in it? The alien has Alice Ghostly voice? A Jimmy Durante song performed more than once? This is really a mawkish pile of crusty, stale, day-old offal... and there isn't enough alcohol in the universe to remove the image of Aykroyd's nasty shirtless self from my memory. His chin here is on its way to becoming a repulsive goiter. Yes, this is one of "the Worst Movies Ever Made." Impossibly, Aykroyd then went on to make 'Nothing but Trouble' which, I assure you, actually IS the worst movie ever made. Years later I couldn't see L.A. Confidential until reams of accolades rolled in for it, due to an unwillingness contracted here (and from watching 'Cool World') to ever lay eyes on Kim Basinger again.My brothers hit/miss ratio has improved, but another friend has taken his place. A few years back he took us to Dark Water, an abysmal by-the-books stinker which all of us groaned through and agreed was something that should have been forced back into the anal cavity it dropped out of.