Directed by Richard Benjamin, who also happened to act in a number of movies that I have enjoyed over the years, My Stepmother Is An Alien is one of those movies that I always wanted to check out one day. It was never a top priority though, because I assumed it wouldn't be very good. My assumption was correct. This isn't a very good film.
Dan Aykroyd plays Steven Mills, a physicist who manages to send a signal so far into space that it actually, unbeknownst to him, hits and disrupts a distant planet. Believing that this was a deliberate attack, the planet sends Celeste (Kim Basinger) to find Steven, steal his research, and eventually order the destruction of Earth. Celeste ends up becoming romantically involved with Steven, mistakenly thinking that is a good way to achieve her main objective. Steven's young daughter, Jessie (Alyson Hannigan), soon realises that there's something not right, especially when Celeste keeps talking to her bag (voiced by Ann Prentiss), and it looks like there won't be any happy ending for the main characters.
Written by Jerico Stone, Herschel Weingrod, and Timothy Harris, you'd be forgiven for expecting something decent here. Stone would later help to write Matinee, one of many superb Joe Dante movies, and Weingrod and Harris worked together on hits like Trading Places, Brewster's Millions, Twins, and Kindergarten Cop (although they also gave us the less enjoyable Pure Luck). This is not up there with their best work. Although there are a few small chuckles here and there, it is a poor comedy that makes the big mistake of trying to utilise Kim Basinger for both her looks and her comedic skills, the latter of which she simply doesn’t possess.
Benjamin directs with a strangely slapdash approach, hoping that the main premise will be enough to make viewers forget about anything else. Set-pieces are clumsily put together, occasional zingers are thrown into a laugh-sucking vacuum, and, perhaps strangest of all, nobody involved is really allowed to play to their strengths.
Basinger obviously looks beautiful here, and I do enjoy some of her acting work, but she is awful when it comes to trying to play up the comedy. Aykroyd fares better, but his character is so strangely oblivious to madness going on around him that it feels as if he is the punchline to an ongoing joke. The real joy comes from a fun turn from a young Hannigan, who has always been great, and a decent attempt to keep delivering laughs from Jon Lovitz, playing the brother of the character played by Aykroyd. There is also some fun to had from Joseph Maher, as well as a teeny tiny Seth Green, only onscreen for a minute or so, but downright adorable.
It’s quite easy to see why this was given the green light, considering the concept and the people involved, and it is a shame to see very few people trying to do their best. From the cinematography to the Alan Silvestri score, everything around the central performances feels disappointingly lacklustre. Maybe it’s one to consider for a remake option, considering the massive room for improvement.
4/10
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