Made in America (1993)

Too much of everything

To me, this movie is perfection.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Made in America is directed by Richard Benjamin and collectively written by Marcia Brandwynne, Nadine Schiff and Holly Goldberg Sloan. It stars Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Danson, Nia Long, Will Smith and Jennifer Tilly.When doing a biology project at school, Zora (Long) notices that her blood group is different from her mothers, Sarah (Goldberg). Having never known her father, Zora learns that she was the product of artificial insemination. Quickly setting off to find out who her father is, it comes as a big shock when it turns out he's tall white car salesman Hal Jackson (Danson), a surprise since Zora and Sarah are black! Not the most powerful of set ups it has to be said, but in spite of the lowly rating afforded it by many critics and film lovers, it's a sweet and honest affair. Film pins its hopes on the central comedy premise of a white man somehow fathering a black daughter from a black mother. From there it follows a familiar course from the shock and horror born out by the reveal, to opposites at war and on to maybe opposites attracting? This of course only works if the viewer has a soft spot for Danson and Goldberg in the first place, but with them giving it complete gusto, and being a real off screen couple as well, their play off of each other is very easy to warm too. Sure it's contrived, and very treacle based once we land in the final quarter, but the mixing of races aspect has been well handled by the makers and there's some decent comedy moments. It may not be laugh out loud funny, unless you be the type of person who finds Danson astride a runaway elephant funny? But it has its moments and director Richard Benjamin is also enough of a pro to not let the pace sag. Good support comes from Long and Smith, while Tilly is wonderfully memorable as the fitness freak bimbo girlfriend of Danson.Slight but never less than charming, it's safely recommended to fans of the two principal stars. 6/10

Richard Benjamin was such an interesting actor in the 1970s (indifferent, unafraid to appear dishonest, sharp-tongued) that his transformation into a film director of complete and utter piffle is both surprising and disheartening. Here, he helms a crass comedy laced with old-fashioned trimmings. Whoopi Goldberg plays the mother of a teenage girl, the product of mom's one-time visit to a sperm bank. After the secret comes out, the young woman then discovers her biological father is Ted Danson, an obnoxious, white car-salesman! Shrill, misguided piece flails about trying to be funny and does not succeed. Goldberg can't rise above the cheap, smarmy writing, nor can she do much under Benjamin's even smarmier handling. Good supporting cast including Will Smith and Jennifer Tilly is wasted. * from ****

Ted Danson's best work since the last episode of cheers. Whoopie Goldberg really steals the show just like her final speech in Sister act 2. The best part of this movie is when Whoopie gets wrecked by a car because she was late to open up her f*ckin book store. f*ck. I'm surprised Danson's not still trying to milk this movie by mentioning it in episodes of his blockbuster sitcom Becker. This movie should include Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenburg and should entitle, "Three men, my mistake at the sperm bank, and whoopee Goldberg." Despite her lack of eyebrows, Goldberg's performance was more than remember able and will continue to inspire me in my own personal dreams of becoming Made in America. Sincerely,John F*ck

This starts with a premise involving Will Smith going along to a sperm bank so I was expecting to see a bad taste comedy similar to THERE`S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY , but then the whole feel of the movie changes and we see a rampaging elephant running around which led me to think we`d be seeing an animal driven slapstick comedy like ED , but then the film turns into a slightly rom com type movie , and just right at the end it almost turns serious and we have an obligitary uplifting ending . As you can guess MADE IN AMERICA seems to be very confused as what it`s trying to do which is usually the sign of a bad film and if it`s a comedy with no laughs involved then it IS a bad film