Made in America (1993)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Richard Benjamin

Writers (WGA):

Marcia Brandwynne (story) &
Nadine Schiff (story) ...

Release Date:

28 May 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

At the sperm-bank she asked for a tall, intelligent, black man. One out of three ain't bad.

Plot:

A young black woman discovers that her father was a sperm donor, and if that weren't bad enough, he's white. |

Plot Keywords:

Mother Daughter Relationship | High School | Biracial | Dysfunctional Family | Class Differences

Cast

Whoopi Goldberg	...	Sarah Mathews
Ted Danson	...	Halbert 'Hal' Jackson
Will Smith	...	Tea Cake Walters
Nia Long	...	Zora Mathews
Paul Rodriguez	...	Jose
Jennifer Tilly	...	Stacy
Peggy Rea	...	Alberta
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Bob Takashima
David Bowe	...	Teddy
Jeffrey Joseph	...	James
Rawley Valverde	...	Diego
Fred Mancuso	...	Bruce
Charlene Fernetz	...	Paula
Shawn Levy	...	Dwayne
Lu Leonard	...	Sperm Bank Nurse

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual situations and language.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Germany:6 (f) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Peru:14 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Albany, California, USA

Company:

Alcor Films

Trivia:

The African Craft Shop is in the same street as a cinema advertising "A Paula Prentiss Retrospective". Prentiss is the wife of director 'Benjamin, Richard'.

Goofs:

Continuity: Placement of fruit in bowl during the love scene. The fruit is kicked out by Sarah's foot, then is neatly back in place moments later.

Quotes:

Tea Cake Walters: There's a white man at the door!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Bob Saget/TLC (#20.19)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Many careers were crippled here...

Richard Benjamin was such an interesting actor in the 1970s (indifferent, unafraid to appear dishonest, sharp-tongued) that his transformation into a film director of complete and utter piffle is both surprising and disheartening. Here he helms a crass comedy laced with old-fashioned trimmings: Whoopi Goldberg plays the mother of teenage girl who gets the news she was the result of mom's visit to a sperm bank. Worse, her biological father is both white and an obnoxious car-salesman! Shrill, misguided piece flails about trying to be funny and does not succeed. Goldberg can't rise above the cheap, smarmy writing, nor can she do much under Benjamin's even smarmier handling. * from ****