History Film / MacAndMe

* SpoofAesop : [[spoiler: [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety Practice safe trigger discipline, kids!]] [[SpoofAesop Or there will be]] consequences!]]

** Somehow Eric and his mother don't seem curious at the dogs barking madly at a nearby tree right after Mac has crashed a Power Wheels toy in the same place.

A scene in which Eric rolls off a cliff grew popular as part of a BaitAndSwitch RunningGag by Creator/PaulRudd: when appearing as a guest on a Creator/ConanOBrien show (''[[Series/LateNightWithConanOBrien Late Night]]'', ''{{Series/Conan}}'', and his podcast ''Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend''), he will play that clip instead of one from whatever film he's promoting at the time.

A scene in which Eric rolls off a cliff became a RunningGag on ''Series/LateNightWithConanOBrien'', and later ''{{Series/Conan}}'': whenever Creator/PaulRudd is a guest, he will play that clip instead of one from whatever film he's promoting at the time. ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' tackled this one at the top of Season 12 -- coincidentally, both show and subject turned 30 years old that year. For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode recap, [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S12E01MacAndMe go here]].

A scene in which Eric rolls off a cliff became a RunningGag on ''Series/LateNightWithConanOBrien'', and later ''{{Series/Conan}}'': Whenever Creator/PaulRudd is a guest, Rudd will play that clip instead of one from whatever film he's promoting at the time. ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' tackled this one at the top of Season 12 -- coincidentally, both show and subject turned 30 years old that year. For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode recap, [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S12E01MacAndMe go here]].

* BatmanInMyBasement

* LoveAtFirstSight: Michael and Courtney.

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: The cops in the movie have ''terrible'' trigger discipline, including one who keeps his finger on the trigger of a loaded service revolver at all times. Unsurprisingly, this lack of safety gets [[spoiler: Eric]] shot when the cop trips.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: A police officer trips over his car while chasing the aliens and accidentally fires his gun. [[spoiler:In the Japanese cut, he explicitly shoots Eric as a result]].

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The film jumps from the family leaving for a birthday party, to- a bunch of teenagers breakdancing in the parking lot at a McDonald's. The scene doesn't set the stage for anything, and isn't remotely connected to anything in the story. And it goes on forever.

''Mac and Me'' is a 1988 film that is best known for bearing a strong resemblance to ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial''.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: To a modern audience, giving your kid a birthday party at [=McDonald=]'s seems like a passive-aggressive way to tell them that you hate their guts, but back in TheEighties, [=McDonald=]'s parties were ''very'' popular and were one of the best parties a kid could get. And Ronald [=McDonald=] showing up at the parties like he does in the film was not unheard of -- professional clowns/party entertainers across the country played him, each one handling a certain region, making public appearances at big events for schools, baseball games, and the like. That one ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E15HomieTheClown where Krusty the Clown has a clown college for people playing him in different regions]] isn't ''too'' far off from the truth in that regard.

Shortly after being picked up by an unmanned space probe and taken to Earth, a family of humanoid space aliens escapes from a research lab. They get split up, with the youngest entering a van belonging to the Cruise family: single mom Janet (Christine Ebersole), 16-year-old Michael (Jonathan Ward), and 11-year-old and wheelchair-bound Eric (Jade Calegory), who are moving from Illinois to California. Of course, it's the youngest kid who discovers the alien first--HilarityEnsues as the creature's attempts to reunite with his family cause Eric's family to think he's going insane.