My Favorite Martian (1999)

My Favorite Martian (1999)

Taglines: The Martian has landed. There goes the neighborhood.

My Favorite Martian movie storyline. News producer Tim O’Hara (Jeff Daniels) is fired for unwillingly “compromising” his boss’s daughter, reporter Brace Channing (Elizabeth Hurley), during a live broadcast of the first Space Shuttle launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. His assistant, Lizzie (Daryl Hannah), tries to comfort him, and it is apparent she has a crush on him.

Later, Tim witnesses a small Martian spacecraft crash landing. Realizing his chance to deliver a story that will “rock the Earth”, he brings Brace to show her the ship, but by the time he reaches the crash site the ship has been shrunk to toy size. Nearby, its only occupant (Christopher Lloyd) hides in the bushes. Tim takes the now-shrunken spaceship home with him, and the Martian follows him to retrieve it. After a confrontation, Tim is knocked out and the Martian disguises himself to look like Tim and ends up kissing Lizzie when she visits.

When Tim confronts the Martian the next morning, he finds out that a small device called an “electron accelerator”, which powers the control systems of the ship, is damaged beyond repair and the Martian needs Tim’s help to find a replacement. The Martian takes the name “Uncle Martin” and explores the city with Tim, unaware that they are being watched by SETI, which discovered DNA left by Martin while hiding out at Tim’s. While exploring Tim’s neighborhood, Martin tells him about a friend of his named “Neenert”, one of his planet’s most gifted Martian scientists, who came to Earth in 1964 but never came back. Brace is captured by the SETI gang and is interrogated.

Tim secretly tapes Martin and his sentient suit, Zoot, with hidden cameras to back up his story and impress the TV station staff, but he eventually decides not to reveal the tapes as he has become fond of Martin. Meanwhile, Martin and Zoot discover a subsystem of the ship called the Interstellar Safety System, which is prepared to self-destruct. Brace discovers the footage of Martin in his Martian form and she steals the tape. Lizzie shows up at Tim’s house to discover Brace stealing the tape. Thinking that Tim cheated on her, Lizzie rejects him and storms out, only to be distracted by the now-full-size spaceship, and is pulled into the cockpit by Zoot.

My Favorite Martian is a 1999 American science fiction comedy film starring Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Daniels, Daryl Hannah, Elizabeth Hurley, Wallace Shawn and Ray Walston, based on the 1960s television series of the same name in which Walston starred. It was directed by Donald Petrie and written by Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver, based on the television series created by John L. Greene. Creatures were created by Amalgamated Dynamics from designs by Jordu Schell. The film grossed $36.8 million domestically against a budget of $65 million.

My Favorite Martian Movie Poster (1999)

My Favorite Martian (1999)

Directed by: Donald Petrie
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Christopher Lloyd, Elizabeth Hurley, Daryl Hannah, Wallace Shawn, Christine Ebersole, Ray Walston, Christine Ebersole, Shelley Malil
Screenplay by: Sherri Stoner, Deanna Oliver
Production Design by: Sandy Veneziano
Cinematography by: Thomas E. Ackerman
Film Editing by: Malcolm Campbell
Costume Design by: Hope Hanafin
Set Decoration by: Michael Taylor
Art Direction by: Christopher Burian-Mohr
Music by: John Debney
MPAA Rating: PG for some crude humor, action-violence, sensuality, partial nudity and language.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: February 12, 1999

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