My Stepmother Is an Alien

My Stepmother Is An Alien
movie poster
Directed by	Richard Benjamin
Written by	Jerico Stone Herschel Weingrod Timothy Harris Jonathan Reynolds 'Uncredited: Richard Benner Leslie Bricusse Debra Frank Susan Rice Paul Rudnick Carl Sautter
Produced by	Franklin R. Levy Ronald Parker Executive prods.: Jerry Weintraub Art Levinson Laurence Mark
Starring	Kim Basinger Dan Aykroyd
Cinematography	Richard H. Kline
Edited by	Jacqueline Cambas
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	9 December Template:Fy
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language
Budget	$16,000,000
Box office	$13,854,000 (US)

My Stepmother Is An Alien is a Template:Fy comedy science fiction film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Kim Basinger and Dan Aykroyd, with featured performances by Jon Lovitz and Alyson Hannigan.

Plot

Celeste (Kim Basinger) is an alien sent on a secret mission to Earth; Steven Mills (Dan Aykroyd) is a widowed scientist who is working on experimental ways to send radio waves into deep space. An accident during one of his experiments inadvertently caused gravity to be ruined on Celeste's home world. Celeste is then sent to Earth to find out who has discovered a way to change gravity and how they did it. She is aided by an alien or alien device, resembling a large phallus with an eye, who hides himself in a designer purse to aid Celeste by indoctrinating her on Earth ways. The Bag is able to do amazing things like create diamonds and designer dresses almost instantaneously.

Celeste's newness on earth leads to some humorous situations where Celeste nearly exposes herself as alien due to her strange behavior, like trying to kiss someone for the first time or trying to cook. Jessie Mills (Alyson Hannigan) is Steven's daughter, who notices Celeste's strange habits, such as snacking on cigarette butts and flashlight batteries, pulling hard boiled eggs out of boiling water, and handling an extremely hot oven rack without being burned. However, she cannot convince her father that there is something strange about Celeste, since her father is too smitten with Celeste to care.

Celeste encounters many things on Earth that she would otherwise never have experienced, such as sneezing, sexual intercourse, and love. In the end Celeste falls in love with Steven, and comes to understand and care for his daughter. Celeste attempts to convince her home world that the whole thing was an accident and that Earth shouldn't be destroyed because of all of the wonderful things it offers.

Cast

• Dan Aykroyd as Steven Mills
• Kim Basinger as Celeste Martin
• Jon Lovitz as Ron Mills
• Alyson Hannigan as Jessie Mills
• Joseph Maher as Lucas Budlong
• Seth Green as Fred Glass
• Ann Prentiss as Voice of The Bag
• Wesley Mann as Grady
• Tony Jay as Council Chief
• Peter Bromilow as Second in Command
• Nina Henderson as Cashier
• Harry Shearer as Voice of Carl Sagan
• Adrian Sparks as Dr. Morosini
• Juliette Lewis as Lexie, Jessie's Friend #1
• Tanya Fenmore as Ellen, Jessie's Friend #2
• Jonathan H. Rossi as Penis Alien #1

Cast notes

• Child co-stars Alyson Hannigan and Seth Green would later reunite on the television series Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

Production

• The original writer of My Stepmother Is an Alien, Jerico Stone, saw the story as a dark allegory about child abuse, which is how he pitched the film to Paramount Pictures in Template:Fy.

• Shelley Long was originally cast as Celeste.

• The film went into principal photography on 29 February, Template:Fy, and wrapped in May of that year. Some location shooting took place in Thousand Oaks, California. The film was released in the United States on 9 December, 1988, and was marketed with the tagline: "A million lightyears from home, she's found a husband, a stepdaughter and a dog."

Reception

The film was released on December 9, 1988 and opened at #7, grossing $2,066,980 in the opening weekend. It went on to gross $13,854,000 in the USA.

External links

• My Stepmother Is an Alien at IMDb
• My Stepmother Is an Alien at the TCM Movie Database
• My Stepmother Is an Alien at AllMovie