![]() When Frankie takes Ulysses out into the world–or, rather, when he escapes into it in the back of her car–he ends up tossing aside his blue coveralls for an ill-fitting, comically enchanting tuxedo. Seidelman loves to change their clothes, and each change of wardrobe indicates a deeper, interior change. And as she decorates her plots, so does Seidelman decorate her characters. This kind of adornment is at the heart of Seidelman’s style all three of her films (Smithereens was the first) have easy-to-relate plots, but their unfolding almost defies description. Not only that, there’s her colleague Suzy (Polly Draper), who seems to be after both Frankie’s old flame and his account. Frankie also has to contend with the social demands of her sister Ivy’s (Susan Berman) wedding to a Cuban waiter, a circumstance that causes her middle-class mother (Polly Bergen) no end of exasperation. She’s visited by her old friend Trish (Glenne Headly), who has run out on her unfaithful TV-star husband Don (Hart Bochner). Frankie can’t turn around without bumping into someone. Right is a very crowded film by today’s standards. However, as before, the plot doesn’t really count for all that much Seidelman’s detours around, over, under, and beyond the demands of the story are really what make this movie. This pulpy plot, with its sci-fi base, is similar to the amnesia hook that Seidelman used so effectively in Desperately Seeking Susan. It doesn’t take long for the consultant to impress her image of male perfection on the appealing concatenation of circuits, and, to the ultimate consternation of Peters and his bosses, before you know it Ulysses becomes a paradigm of the sensitive, caring New Man. And while Peters is a hostile, rude, antisocial introvert, his invention, Ulysses, is a warm, childlike thing, unburdened by socially determined personality traits, a tabula rasa. Jeff Peters (John Malkovich, in a dual role). Frankie agrees, only to be dumbfounded by the discovery that the robot is a human-appearing android designed in the image of its creator, Dr. Shorn of her lover and number one business problem, she’s doubly free when she’s approached by the executives of Chemtech, a firm that wants her to mount a public relations campaign for their new product, a robot that’s being prepared for deep-space exploration. She’s not above throwing a guy out of her life, but it takes a fit of jealousy to provoke her to it. Professionally successful and an aggressive manager and boss, she still shows the signs of sexual availability and desire: makeup, high heels, and a smooth-shaved body. Frankie is one of those contemporary women who seem to embody the contradictions of postfeminist life. What makes Seidelman different from most other recorders of sexual military history, however, is that with her, the women are winning.Īnn Magnuson stars as Frankie Stone, a Miami-based “image consultant” coming to the end of a tumultuous relationship with one of her clients, a desperately hip young congressman, Steve Marcus (Ben Masters). Her comedy is much broader than before, and the links to everyday reality perhaps a bit more tenuous–this is a movie about an android–but she maintains the sharpest eye for the surging lines in the battle between male and female. Like her last film, Seidelman’s latest is a mostly cheerful romp through contemporary sexual mores and fantasies. Right, the latest social satire from the director of Desperately Seeking Susan. With Ann Magnuson, John Malkovich, Ben Masters, Laurie Metcalf, and Polly Bergen.Ĭan a liberated businesswoman with an aching heart find a warmhearted, loving male in this modern world? Mmmmm, could be, according to Susan Seidelman’s Making Mr. NEWS & INVESTIGATIONS Open dropdown menu.
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