Mac and Me: A Love Story (About McDonald’s… and Coca-Cola)
2025 we’re here.
Remember that time you rented a movie from Blockbuster just because all the good ones were taken? That's basically how Mac and Me got made, except replace "Blockbuster" with "McDonald's marketing department" and "all the good ones were taken" with "we need our own E.T. but make it more... commercial."
In this week's episode, we dive deep into what might be the most beautifully terrible movie of our childhood. If you've never seen Mac and Me (1988), imagine E.T., but if E.T. was shaped like a sentient scrotum, could only communicate through whistling, and could be brought back to life exclusively through the power of ice-cold Coca-Cola Classic™.
Some highlights from our chat:
The time I (Jacqueline) had Harrison Ford's picture in my high school locker, because apparently I've always been into grumpy old men
Ryan's daughter Noa becoming his office manager and demanding he record better responses to computer crashes
The fact that Mac stands for "Mysterious Alien Creature" which is definitely not a backronym they made up to avoid McDonald's lawyers
But the real star of this episode is the movie itself. Did you know that in Japan, they kept in the scene where Eric gets shot? Because nothing says "family entertainment" quite like showing a child getting riddled with bullets in a Supermarket parking lot. But don’t worry, he gets brought back to life by the naked whistling alien family, who are then promptly sworn in as American Citizens before driving off into the cityscape, in a pink Cadillac. The wild part? None of what I just typed is made up. This.
Speaking of McDonald's (we weren’t, but needed a way to introduce this net gem), there's a dance sequence that feels like it was written by someone who's only had McDonald's described to them in a fever dream. Picture this: Ronald McDonald, break dancing, an alien in a bear costume, and not a single person actually eating anything. Chef's kiss.
For those keeping score at home:
Number of times aliens get sucked into vacuum cleaners: 2
Number of times aliens are extracted from vacuum cleaners: 2
Number of product placement deals: Roughly 47
Rotten Tomatoes score: 7% (and that feels about 6% too generous)
Times we watched this as kids thinking it was totally normal: 3,297
Next episode, we'll be back with... well, something equally questionable from our childhood, probably. Until then, keep your Coca-Cola stocked – you never know when you'll need to resurrect an alien family.
Stay crispy! (Are we still saying that? We're still not sure.)
Ryan & Jacqueline
P.S. If you've ever found a dead hawk on your deck and didn't immediately send photos to your siblings, who even are you?
Want to support the podcast? Leave a review, or just tell us about your own traumatic childhood movie experiences. We're here for all of it.
P.P.S
Here’s the first time Paul Rudd breathed fresh air into Mac and Me’s deflated lungs on Conan:
#DreyerDrive #MacAndMe #WhyDidWeWatchThisAsMuchAsWeDid #CocaColaResurrection #McDonalds #80sKids #SiblingPodcast
Share this post