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Mannequin
Despite a hard working cast, the 1987 comic fantasy Mannequin suffers due t an overstuffed screenplay and music video direction that just appears lame in 2023.
The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Jonathan Switcher, a young artist who can't hold onto a job because normal jobs just don't fulfill the artist in him. He accidentally stumbles into a job at a large, but financially-challenged, department store where he his hired as an assistant to the window dresser when, one night, a mannequin he has dressed comes to life, thanks to being inhabited by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian princess (played by a pre-Samantha Jones Kim Cattrall), who becomes Jonathan's muse, allowing him to create memorable store windows that make him the new window dresser.
Director and screenwriter Michael Gottleib tries to disguise a pretty thin story with a lot of decoration that initially dazzle the eye, but grows pretty tiresome before halfway through the film. The music video scene of McCarthy and Cattrall dancing through the department store to disco music and changing outfits every two minutes is initially cute, but goes on way too long. Once the secret of Jonathan's mannequin appears, suddenly we have all kinds of people after the guy, including the weasley human resources director (James Spader), a moronic security guard (GW Bailey), his ex-girlfriend (Carole Davis) and her boss (Steve Vinovich), the movie degenerates into a bunch of silly slapstick and car chases that even a mannequin's possible demise into a wood chipper can't make anymore interesting. Jonathan's only allies are the store owner (Estelle Getty) and the flamboyant window dresser named Hollywood (Meshach Taylor).
This film seemed like it was seven hours long and I don't think I laughed out loud. Andrew McCarthy was his usual adorable self and Cattrall had not discovered her inner Samantha Jones yet, but they do manage a semblance of chemistry, but the rest of the cast is just annoying. I can't believe this was the same movie I saw when first came out. Time has not been kind to this one. There's even a sequel if you can imagine.
Despite a hard working cast, the 1987 comic fantasy Mannequin suffers due t an overstuffed screenplay and music video direction that just appears lame in 2023.
The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Jonathan Switcher, a young artist who can't hold onto a job because normal jobs just don't fulfill the artist in him. He accidentally stumbles into a job at a large, but financially-challenged, department store where he his hired as an assistant to the window dresser when, one night, a mannequin he has dressed comes to life, thanks to being inhabited by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian princess (played by a pre-Samantha Jones Kim Cattrall), who becomes Jonathan's muse, allowing him to create memorable store windows that make him the new window dresser.
Director and screenwriter Michael Gottleib tries to disguise a pretty thin story with a lot of decoration that initially dazzle the eye, but grows pretty tiresome before halfway through the film. The music video scene of McCarthy and Cattrall dancing through the department store to disco music and changing outfits every two minutes is initially cute, but goes on way too long. Once the secret of Jonathan's mannequin appears, suddenly we have all kinds of people after the guy, including the weasley human resources director (James Spader), a moronic security guard (GW Bailey), his ex-girlfriend (Carole Davis) and her boss (Steve Vinovich), the movie degenerates into a bunch of silly slapstick and car chases that even a mannequin's possible demise into a wood chipper can't make anymore interesting. Jonathan's only allies are the store owner (Estelle Getty) and the flamboyant window dresser named Hollywood (Meshach Taylor).
This film seemed like it was seven hours long and I don't think I laughed out loud. Andrew McCarthy was his usual adorable self and Cattrall had not discovered her inner Samantha Jones yet, but they do manage a semblance of chemistry, but the rest of the cast is just annoying. I can't believe this was the same movie I saw when first came out. Time has not been kind to this one. There's even a sequel if you can imagine.