47
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasMy Stepmother Is an Alien is solid, wide-appeal holiday fare. It makes the best use of Aykroyd’s warmth and proven talents in quite some time, and it does even more for Basinger, showing that she can be as funny and smart as she is sexy.
- 63Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumDirected by Richard Benjamin, this is an inordinately silly comedy that manages to be pretty likable if one can get past some of its harebrained premises.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMy Stepmother Is an Alien is a great idea for a movie, but it seems to have stalled at the idea stage.
- 50The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinUnlike the screenwriters, who often cross the thin line between wit and silliness as they outline Celeste's neo-I Love Lucy-isms, Miss Basinger reveals unfailingly sound instincts for comedy.
- 50Time OutTime OutThe film offers several entertaining sequences, but Splash it ain't, for while that film took a similar scenario and beautifully conveyed romantic notions of innocence, this is marred by cruel and juvenile gags.
- 50Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrIt falls far short of the lighthandedness, whimsy and feeling it needs to override its slightness. You keep wanting to like it, to match the good will coming out of the actors, but the writing keeps shoving its fabricated nothingness in your face. [09 Dec 1988, p.36]
- 50Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrAs a filmmaker, Benjamin is capable of the occasional light, graceful touch, but the overall view eludes him; just as he was unable to bring out the sly blend of satire and psychological drama in Bo Goldman's script for Little Nikita, he's unable to find any harmony of tone in this scattered, cacophonous material. [09 Dec 1988, p.B]
- 40The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenEven Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger together, acting their hearts out, can't move this turgid script to liftoff velocity. [15 Dec 1988]
- 30Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonMy Stepmother Is an Alien, the new Richard Benjamin film starring Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger, is E.T. with hormones, a landlocked Splash. No, that actually sounds like fun. And it would be wrong to suggest that this thing is fun. Very wrong.
- Had it actually been told from the perspective of the scientist's daughter, as the title suggests, it might have been more appealing, but instead a predictable, amateurish script shifts the focus elsewhere.