MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN is one of those films with a great title but little in the way of a real plot to go with it. It's a typical lame '80s comedy in which a bunch of dated aliens beam down on Earth and one of them adopts the rather unlikely form of Kim Basinger in order to infiltrate mankind's society. What follows is an endless barrage of dated jokes, unfunny jokes, and just plain weirdness.I'll admit from the outset to not being a fan of Basinger, although she's well cast as an alien character here; there's always been something a bit weird about her, after all. Dan Aykroyd is stuck in the 'everyman hero' type role and can do little with it, although there's novelty value that arises from seeing future stars like Alyson Hannigan, Seth Green, and Juliette Lewis when they were but children.The special effects in the film have dated, not to mention the fashions and hairstyles, and overall it only raised a few chuckles along the way. Overall I think the '80s wave of alien comedies (such as MORONS FROM OUTER SPACE and EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY) was a disappointing one, an assembly of movies that did little to progress either the sci-fi or comedy genres in any way.

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.

'My Stepmother Is An Alien' is likely to find it's lasting following among 80s fans who probably grew up watching it repeatedly in the way that others might be fond (sometimes, obsessed) with other titles that have become sentimental cult classics. The movie itself offers little more than a rushed, quaint, and predictable story that is much than longer than it should be (relative to substance) and unconvincing.Dan Akroyd plays a nerdy workaholic scientist who's latest project accidentally penetrates an alien planet. The aliens see this as an opportunity to find a solution to their impending doom: they face a planet on the edge of extinction. So, they transport to Earth an alien (Kim Basinger) and her talking eyeball sidekick that she carries around in her less-than-ordinary handbag. The alien's job is to basically get close to the scientist (and the courting, marriage, honeymoon and sappy ending all occur in the course of just a few hours) so that she can get what she needs to in order to save her planet. So of course she and the scientist fall in love while the aliens expect to destroy the humans for the alien planet's own protection and I'm sure you can figure the rest out.It's not really a movie that has enough going on to keep the viewer entertained. Better alien assimilation movies can be found in titles like 'Earth Girls Are Easy' (which doesn't take itself too seriously) or even the family-oriented 'Step-Monster'. And even much more cornier, obviously poor efforts are still more entertaining (as unintentional humor) than this, though viewers will probably be drawn (if not out of nostalgia, than curiosity) to see young Alyson Hannigan as Akroyd's daughter, Juliette Lewis as her friend, and Seth Green as her date to the school dance. There's not much other reason to keep reminding people about this movie.

During the period when Richard Benjamin wasn't acting in any movies, he turned to directing, and "My Stepmother Is an Alien" was one of the results. It features nerdy astronomer Steven Mills (Dan Aykroyd) accidentally doing something that causes alien Celeste Martin (Kim Basinger) to get sent to earth. Naturally, she has to learn about everything step by step, causing some really wacky situations.This movie's nothing special, but good for a laugh. You probably really like the scene where Celeste asks her purse "What is sex?". Also starring Alyson Hannigan, Jon Lovitz, and Seth Green. Oh, and most of us probably know that Aykroyd had already played Mr. Conehead on "SNL".