This movie... oh, Mannequin... it is a movie. The most interesting aspect for me is that Andrew McCarthy managed to star in two films about dead things where he spends the entirety of the film trying to convince people are alive. (Weekend at Bernies?!). That seems like a pretty niche genre and somehow he did that!
Overall Mannequin has some funny parts. Unfortunately, they don't make up for the fact that the entire conflict of the film, two rival department stores vying for all the customers and willing to fight each other in the most underhanded of ways, makes no sense... even in the context of the times. Then, quality window displays are the difference maker?! I mean, it is kind of hilarious, but so so stupid that it just doesn't work.
But that's obviously not the point of the movie, really. The point is that somebody needed an excuse to put Kim Cattrall in as many hot outfits as possible and play into some dorky dude hetero male fantasy. It's like the Indian in the Cupboard, but for that population. So silly, though. After denying all those potential royal suiters in ancient Egypt, now she's going for this guy? That is also funny. I love suspending disbelief for imaginative movies, but then certain lines are crossed and something just doesn't work at all. Ha!
And then... there's the fact that too many of the jokes don't land nowadays. They're sexist and/or homophobic, playing off stereotypes in not a good way. Oof. I am tolerant of the fact that movies made in a different time can sometimes not age well or have to be considered in context of their era, and I can sometimes glance the other way to enjoy a film. But, sometimes it is too much, this is one of those times. Oh well.
