This article was written with the assistance of A.I. technology, and has been edited and fact-checked by Colman Andrews.
“Mac and Me” is a 1988 film by veteran director Stewart Raffill, with Christine Ebersole and Jonathan Ward in feature roles, about a young boy who befriends an extraterrestrial. It is also the most disliked movie supported by the Pentagon, based on an index of equally weighted ratings and scores from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.
The Department of Defense has a long-standing relationship with Hollywood and has exercised significant influence in the entertainment industry. The DoD’s official goal is to ensure accurate depiction of military stories and safeguard sensitive information, but it has also been accused of using blockbuster movies to bolster the military’s recruitment strategies, public relations efforts, and influence overseas.
In the case of “Mac and Me,” the Pentagon’s contribution was to supply military equipment and personnel for some scenes. Judging from the film’s reception, the government might have regretted becoming involved. Reviewers dismissed it as a poor ripoff of “E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial” and damned it as “one of the worst films ever made.” It earned an IMDb user rating of only 3.4/10. On Rotten Tomatoes, audiences gave it a mere 38% approval rating, while the Tomatometer critics’ score was a devastating 4%.
Click here to see the full list of movies supported by the Pentagon that almost nobody liked.