An bright, smart, beautiful woman named Frankie Stone (Ann Magnuson) is public relations executive. She been hired by a huge technology company to "humanaize" their latest work. An dorky, curious, android named Ulysses (John Malkovich). Which Ulysses is been trained to be an astronaut. Ulysses is the likeness of a cold-hearted scientist named Jeff Peters (Also played by Malkovich). At first, Frankie finds her latest assignment to be truly strange. As she gets to know Ulysses much better than Peters, she slowly falls in love with Ulysses! Ulysses starting to be more curious about the human life than being an astronaut. Which Peters is absolutely furious, since it taken him years to train Ulysses and drives him crazy that Ulysses only wants to know about love!

Directed by Susan Seidelman (Cookie, Desperately Seeking Susan, She-Devil) made an amusing romantic comedy with superb comic performances by Malkovich and Magnuson. "Making Mr. Right" was an flop, when it was released in 1987. But the movie did went on to have an loyal cult following. It is fun to watch Malkovich in a charming, extremely funny and touching role. Which it is rare for Malkovich. Magnuson is certainly an knockout in her role. Glenne Headly does have some very amusing moments as Stone's best friend and Laurie Metcalf does have some good moments as the annoying woman in Peters' life.

DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) and an good Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound. DVD's only feature is the original theatrical trailer. In a way, "Making Mr. Right" is a odd romantic comedy with some original effective moments that makes this movie unique. The movie has an great if unusual ending as well. Die-fans of Malkovich certainly should check the movie out. Great use of "The Turtles" song titled "Happy Together" at the end. "Making Mr. Right" is certainly an curio. (****/*****).

If there were more genuine laugh-out-loud moments in this film, it could have achieved more commercial success. OR, if it hadn't been pitched to audiences as a straight comedy, it could have achieved later status over time as a cult film. This is the approach I think the producers should have taken. This would have made a great indie(rather than a mainstream release by the fledgling Orion Pictures) with Ann Magnuson still as the star. Have the actors play it straight as a character study and let the subtle natural comedy shine through. Laurie Metcalf's dingy character would have to be dismissed or toned down a bit, but otherwise this would work with the same quirky charm that made Mystic Pizza (released the following year) a success.

As it is, the film is sweet more than it is funny. And it works thanks to John Malkovich's great dual performances and Magnuson's ability to carry a film (the only time she's been allowed to do so before or since--pity). Believe it or not, this was the film in which I discovered them both, and they should still be proud of having it on their resumes, even with all they went on to accomplish.

I shouldn't be too hard on Orion, though. After all, they did put out "The Silence of the Lambs", but they also let "Blue Sky" sit on a shelf until they went belly-up and another studio had to release it four years after it was completed. The only flaw is not in this film itself, but in the way it was marketed and what I as an audience member expected going into it. This film deserves rediscovery--and if it gets it, there's the added bonus of '80s nostalgia in the fashions and some of the dialogue.

As a tremendous fan of movies, I have yet to see many directed by women. Rarely are they publicized, and rarely are they seen, for many reasons. This movie, Making Mr. Right, is one of the great films of the late twentieth century.

It is a film fraught with ironies and humor, and told from the perspective of a busy working woman, who is in the midst of making her life and keeping up relationships. Her life is changed when she is forced to train an android to learn some people skills.

The movie brings up all kinds of social questions – it feels largely told from a anthropologist's view – a perspective that is completely devoid of the subject at work. This is certainly very interesting, and becomes very engaging when it is forced to look at the way people interact and why.

There are the obvious questions – like can machines think? These conspicuous ones are less interesting to the audience since they are an old hat, something already presented to us by science fiction writers of the 60s and 70s.

The cinematography or other technical elements are nothing to rave about. You don't watch it for the special effects, obviously. John Malkovich puts on a startling real act of a machine, as well as the maddened scientist who cannot interact with the real world.

RATING: 8/10

"One day, when people have figured that out (the problems of love),then they will be more than just machines"