My Stepmother Is an Alien

"She's gorgeous, and she's never been kissed. Needless to say, she's from another planet."

1988 1h 48m EN

😐

5.8

MID

★5.8TMDB · 626

ComedyScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Trying to rescue her home planet from destruction, a gorgeous extraterrestrial named Celeste arrives on Earth and begins her scientific research. She woos quirky scientist Dr. Steve Mills, a widower with a young daughter. Before long, Celeste finds herself in love with Steve and her new life on Earth, where she experiences true intimacy for the first time. But when she loses sight of her mission, she begins to question where she belongs.

“She's gorgeous, and she's never been kissed. Needless to say, she's from another planet.”

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Cast

Dan Aykroyd
Steven Mills
Kim Basinger
Celeste Martin
Jon Lovitz
Ron Mills
Alyson Hannigan
Jessie Mills
Joseph Maher
Lucas Budlong
Seth Green
Fred Glass
Ann Prentiss
Bag (voice)
Wesley Mann
Grady

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Benjamin
Writers: Herschel Weingrod, Timothy Harris, Jonathan Reynolds
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 69% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Benjamin, shot by Richard H. Kline. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jacqueline Cambas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger and Jon Lovitz carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "She's gorgeous, and she's never been kissed. Needless to say, she's from another planet.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0095687 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Benjamin directs. Richard H. Kline behind the camera. Alan Silvestri scores. Jacqueline Cambas cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 69% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
238 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Richard Benjamin, shot by Richard H. Kline. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Jacqueline Cambas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger and Jon Lovitz carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "She's gorgeous, and she's never been kissed. Needless to say, she's from another planet.".
8IMDB entry: tt0095687 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 8 themes, including "single parent", "stepmother", "alien", "spoof".

The technical file

Cinematography: Richard H. Kline
Original score: Alan Silvestri
Editing: Jacqueline Cambas
Production design: Charles Rosen
Costume design: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Makeup / hair: Christine Lee
VFX supervisor: John Dykstra
Stunt coordinator: Dick Ziker
Runtime: 108 min · 1h 48m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $13,854,000
Return: 69% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)

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Richard Benjamin

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What people are saying

Wuchak2020-09-25
★ 6/10
Weird 80’s comedy in the silly mold of “Earth Girls are Easy” and “Coneheads” A low-paid widowed scientist (Dan Aykroyd) makes contact with aliens and they send an agent (Kim Basinger) to meet him. She has a one-eyed serpentine counselor in her purse and ends up marrying the physicist, even though the counselor’s intention is to destroy the planet (!). Alyson Hannigan plays the winsome daughter while Jon Lovitz is on hand as the researcher’s annoying brother. “My Stepmother Is an Alien” (1988) is cut from the same cloth as the contemporaneous “Earth Girls are Easy.” Although it’s not as good and has a strange off-kilter vibe, it’s vastly superior to future duds "2001: A Space Travesty" and "What Planet Are You From?" (both from 2000). While I’m not a fan of Basinger (I don’t NOT like her either), she does comedy surprisingly well, better than you would expect. This was the feature film debut of future “stars” Alyson Hannigan and Juliette Lewis, as well as one of Seth Green’s early movies. The roles of the latter two are almost unnoticeable. Meanwhile, whoever wrote the script loves Jimmy Durante. There’s a surprising scene involving porn that, while it doesn’t get outrageously out of hand (and I could care less about its inclusion), it seems out of place for a warm-hearted family flick. The film is considerably overlong at 1 hour, 47 minutes. It was shot at Studio City and points nearby in the Los Angeles area. GRADE: B-/C+

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