Mac and Me is a 1988 American science fiction film directed by Stewart Raffill, and co-written with Steve Feke.

Starring Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Ward, and Tina Caspary alongside Lauren Stanley and Jade Calegory, it centers on a "Mysterious Alien Creature" (MAC) who escapes from nefarious NASA agents and befriends the boy Eric.

The film performed poorly at the box office and was universally panned by critics, partly due to plot lines similar to E.T.

While regarded as one of the worst films ever made, it has for that reason become an ironic cult classic, and was featured during the twelfth season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Eric disguises Mac in a teddy bear suit and takes him to a birthday party at a local McDonald's, where Debbie's older sister, Courtney, works.

Following MAC's directions, they travel to the mountains on the outskirts of Palmdale, where they find his dying family and rejuvenate them with Coca-Cola.

After Mac's father steals a firearm from a security guard, the police arrive, and a shootout takes place in the parking lot, which results in Eric being killed by a stray bullet.

For saving his life, the United States government grants them American citizenship, with the Cruise family and their neighbors, as well as Wickett and Zimmerman, at the ceremony.

[11] Louis noted that he was one of the first to leverage the chain as a platform for promoting films (Disney would later enter into a long-term deal with McDonald's to cross-promote properties including their classic films through in-store campaigns such as Happy Meals, although that relationship ended in May 2006, amid pressure to reduce the promotion of junk food to children).

[12] Despite this, Louis remarked that he was "still the only person in the universe that ever had the exclusive motion picture rights to the McDonald's trademark, their actors, their characters and the whole company.

The film's soundtrack album was released by Curb Records, featuring one track from its musical score, composed, and conducted by Alan Silvestri,[17] and the theme song "Take Me (I'll Follow You)" by Bobby Caldwell.

[18] Track listing: In 2014, Quartet Records released a limited edition disc (1000 copies) of Silvestri's complete score.

[19] The disc also includes "You're Not a Stranger Anymore (Theme from Mac and Me)" and "Take Me (I'll Follow You)," which Silvestri co-wrote for the film.

"[23] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post amended the famed "E.T., phone home" phrase to "E.T., call lawyer" and said, "Why is it so hard to like this film?

"[8] Hicks, along with Caryn James of The New York Times, observed additional promotion of Coca-Cola and Sears[8][26]—the latter brand carried McKids, the McDonald's line of children's clothing.

[8] James also took exception to the "awfully irresponsible" treatment of wheelchair-using main character Eric Cruise, who is placed in potentially dangerous situations before Mac intervenes.

[26] Calegory's lead performance was named a highlight of the film by several critics,[15] and the filmmakers garnered praise for their use of a protagonist who has spina bifida.

[15][16][24] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave it a 1½ star rating, and wrote, in a capsule review: This is what happens when someone doesn't make a sequel to a hit movie fast enough.

This may sound benign, but there are two problems: dozens of brazen commercial plugs and a couple of truly frightening scenes with a child in a wheelchair going over a cliff and nearly drowning and, later, being pronounced dead after a fire.

The site's consensus reads, "Mac and Me is duly infamous: not only is it a pale imitation of E.T., it's also a thinly-veiled feature length commercial for McDonald's and Coca-Cola.

[31] Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock cited it as the most egregious example of product placement in cinema history, as well as the "worst thing you'll ever see in your entire life".

[10] It was also named the worst film ever in the San Francisco Chronicle,[32] as well as by broadcaster Simon Mayo,[33] and writer/producer Damon Lindelof.

[34] Michael Hayden of GQ India referred to it as "hands down the worst family movie in Hollywood history.

is a marvel of daring, inspired character design that somehow manages to look simultaneously ugly and adorable, but Mac is a repulsive little monster that looks like an overgrown, horrifically scarred fetus covered with blisters.

[The] alien doesn’t move, so much as he twitches and burbles randomly; over the course of the film, its hideousness and comic inexpressiveness engenders morbid fascination.

"[39] The film is part of a running gag between late-night host and comedian Conan O'Brien and actor Paul Rudd.

[45][46][47] While giving an interview alongside Captain America: Civil War costar Chris Evans in 2016, Rudd expressed his appreciation of its "blatant" advertising of McDonald's, "unearned" positioning of Bobby Caldwell ballad "Take Me (I'll Follow You)", and inclusion of a fly landing on MAC's nose, declaring: "I love it...it's so good.

He claimed there is public interest because home video sales have made the film profitable for Orion Pictures, and also said that MAC would resonate with modern, young moviegoers.