Mac and Me (1988; Stewart Raffill) – Dare Daniel Podcast Episode 41

“Hundreds dead and a city on fire as a dance party at McDonald’s spirals out of control.”

On this product placement-heavy episode, hosts Daniel Barnes and Corky McDonnell review the horrifying family film Mac and Me. Daniel and Corky recorded the show live at Sac City Brews in Sacramento, trying in vain to numb their senses to this disturbing E.T. ripoff.

Mostly funded by McDonald’s, Mac and Me stars Jade Calegory as Eric, a wheelchair-bound boy moving to a new city. During the move, Eric befriends an alien fugitive that gets separated from its family of genital-free, old-man sea-monkey Nosferatus.

A film that warms your heart with rage, Mac and Me offers a constant stream of soulless corporate synergy. Like a 19th-century mountebank, the film peddles Coca-Cola as a life-saving elixir. Meanwhile, McDonald’s gets portrayed as an ecstatic dance party, even in the presence of hate crimes.

Struggling to stave off an existential crisis, Daniel and Corky discuss jogging montages, alien prayer circles, Tomatometers, puberty meters, over-armed supermarket security guards and corporate-sponsored family photos.

MAC AND ME FACTS AND FIGURES

U.S. theatrical release date: August 12, 1988

Domestic box office: $6.4 million (production budget: $13 million)

Critic scores: 0 on Rotten Tomatoes

This week’s craft beer: Breakside Brewery‘s Kids These Haze (6.2% ABV)

This week’s Darer: Liam (Gallagher, possibly)

Why did Liam dare Daniel and Corky to watch Mac and Me? “Actor Paul Rudd has a running bit on Conan O’Brien where he plays a scene from Mac and Me instead of one from the film he’s there to promote. Being a lover of bad movies, the clip definitely spoke to me, but unfortunately, it is the one and only highlight of the film. Then again, it IS an amazing scene. Enjoy :)”

IMDB synopsis: “An alien trying to escape from NASA is befriended by a wheelchair-bound boy.”

This week’s referenced movies: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; Mannequin 2: On the Move; Young Guns; Can’t Buy Me Love; the Star Wars movie franchise; Nosferatu; Pan’s Labyrinth; The Green Mile; Lord of the Rings movie franchise; In the Mouth of Madness; The Blues Brothers; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; They Live; Paper Moon; The Piano; Duel; The Shining; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Screwball; Ishtar; Ghostbusters; Exorcist II: The Heretic; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Men in Black; The Silence of the Lambs; Better Off Dead; Grease; Sleepaway Camp; JFK; Rawhead Rex; China Salesman; Amadeus

Ratings for Mac and Me: Daniel – Dare; Corky – Double Dare

RELATED CLIPS

Ronald McDonald hypes Mac and Me

The infamous wheelchair over the cliff scene

Full McDonald’s dance scene

The original ending where Eric gets shot vs. The theatrical cut

Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago

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