My Stepmother is an Alien (1988, Kim Basinger, Dan Ackroyd)

Published

5 years ago

September 27, 2018

Her Oscar-winning performance in LA Confidential means KIM BASINGER is finally receiving credit for her acting skills, but this exuberant comedy from the director of Mermaids and the acclaimed My Favourite Year allowed her to demonstrate some real comic talent in the 80s. Breaking free of the shackles of 9½ Weeks, Basinger revels here as the innocent alien who arrives on Earth in a last-ditch attempt to save her planet.

Her character, Celeste, is 1,296-years-old, but you’d never guess it. Mad scientist Dr Steve Mills (DAN AYKROYD) certainly wouldn’t, but then he’s struggling to get a grip on reality, bringing up his teenage daughter alone after the death of his wife. Celeste hooks up with him hoping he can repeat an accidental experiment he once performed, which could save her planet. And, of course, he’s completely unaware that the attractive fish-out-of -water who’s landed on his lap is actually an extra-terrestrial.

Whether she’s chewing on a cigarette, lighting up a carrot or learning about sex from watching Debbie Does Dallas, Basinger is a constant delight while Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters, Trading Places, The Blues Brothers) finds himself in the unusual position of playing the straight man, with the other major comic turn coming from JON LOVITZ (A League of Their Own) as the smarmy playboy brother. The girl who gives the film its title, Dr Mills’s teenage daughter Jessie, is played by ALYSON HANNIGAN, although the real child star in the movie is JULIETTE LEWIS, who’s seen fleetingly making her big-screen debut as Lexie, three years before she rose to prominence in Scorsese’s Cape Fear.

production details
USA / 108 minutes / 1988

Director: Richard Benjamin
Writer: Jerico Stone, Herschel Weingrod, Timothy Harris, Jonathan Reynolds

cast
Dan Aykroyd as Steven Mills
Kim Basinger as Celeste Martin
Seth Green as Fred Glass
Wesley Mann as Grady
Tony Jay as Council Chief
Juliette Lewis as Lexie
Alyson Hannigan as Jessie Mills
Joseph Maher as Lucas Budlong
Jon Lovitz as Ron Mills
Ann Prentiss as The Voice of the Bag (voice)
Harry Shearer as Carl Sagan (voice)