Jonathan Switcher (Bratpacker Andrew McCarthy) is an aspiring young artist who builds store mannequins. He’s especially proud of one of his more lifelike creations but loses the mannequin to the Prince & Co department store.
To be near his creation, he takes a night job at the store. His fondness turns to outright hormonal flush when the wooden woman suddenly springs to life.
The dummy’s ability to transform herself instantly from a wooden prop to a flesh-and-blood human is explained, more or less, in a sequence that gives new meaning to the word “lame” – something to do with ancient Egypt, a dung dealer and “the Gods”.
The action then centres on Jonathan’s relationship with Emmy the mannequin (Kim Cattrall), but a variety of subplots keep scooping the action: Jonathan and Emmy must dodge warring department store execs (Estelle Getty and Carole Davis), a yuppie middle manager who is trying to sabotage the store (James Spader), and a crazed security guard (G.W. Bailey) who patrols the store with a cowardly bulldog named Rambo.
Assisting Jonathan is a flamboyant window dresser and aspiring drag queen named Hollywood (Meshach Taylor).
It’s goober comedy all the way, but Mannequin is not without a certain stupid charm. It’s the kind of film you can have a few giggles with – but you wouldn’t want your friends to see you.
Most of Mannequin was filmed at Philadelphia’s John Wanamaker department store. The scenes for the rival store (Illustra) were filmed at Boscov’s in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
Jonathan Switcher
Andrew McCarthy Emmy (Ema Hesire)
Kim Cattrall Claire Timkin
Estelle Getty Richards
James Spader Felix
G.W. Bailey Roxie Shield
Carole Davis BJ Wert
Steve Vinovich Armand
Christopher Maher Hollywood Montrose
Meshach Taylor Emmy’s Mother
Phyllis Newman Mannequin Factory Boss
Phil Rubenstein Superdad
Kenneth Lloyd Superkid
Jake Jundef Hans the Maitre d’
Ben Hammer Tina
Jane Moore Lupe
Jane Carol Simms Mrs Thomas
Judi Goldhand
Director
Michael Gottlieb
Related Posts
Amazon Women On The Moon (1987) Five directors contributed to this scattershot collection of bawdy sketches satirising everything from dating to late-night TV via B-grade sci-fi…
Overboard (1987) The golden age of the screwball comedy might have been the 1930s, but for one all-too-brief moment in late 1987,…
Belly Of An Architect, The (1987) Brian Dennehy stars as self-obsessed middle-aged American architect Stourley Kracklite who is travelling to Italy to supervise an exhibition in…
Moonwalker (1988) Made when Michael Jackson was still the biggest pop star in the world and before all the tabloid attention, this…
Masque of the Red Death, The (1964) The Masque of the Red Death (the seventh in a series of eight Edgar Allan Poe adaptions by director Roger…
Opera (1987) When diva Mara Cecova (a role originally intended for Vanessa Redgrave then rewritten to be shot largely from a Steadicam…
Street Trash (1987) In the basement of a New York liquor store, the owner finds a crate of cheap wine called Viper and…
Melinda (1972) A slick, smooth-talking, womanising young black DJ falls hard for an enigmatic woman he's just met. Things take a turn…
Jonathan Switcher
