Brigid O Sullivan (wisewebwoman) Richard Benjamin directed this. Ted Danson plays a lead as Hal the auto salesman. Whoopi Goldberg plays a lead as Sarah. Will Smith plays a lead as occasional boyfriend. Jennifer Tilley, oh dear.What a mess of a movie and completely uneven, wavering all over the place from outrageous slapstick (a racing elephant!!!) to frequent attempts at poignancy. Too huge and sudden swerves in characterization by the leads matching the swerves of their vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles.What ever happened to the wit of Richard Benjamin? How did he sink to trite and formulaic? This coulda been a really interesting movie as the premise is intriguing - an adult seeking her sperm donor father.BUT: instead we have this simplistic plot with very few laughs.Only good point is a white-black romance without any eyebrow raising or racism (made in 1993) and we still (2008) haven't had many of those in theatres). Whoopi chews the scenery all through it. But the (lack of decent)script is 100% responsible. Avoid. 4 out of 10.

Randall Joy (Hammer1310) As another example of an average premise and equal execution "Made In America" doesn't disappoint. Whoopie Goldberg and Ted Danson star as one-time customers of a sperm donor bank that has mistakenly given them a very curious daughter. Entering her mid-teens, their daughter Zora (played affably by Nia Long) discovers she is the product of their unintentional love. While Sarah (Goldberg) wanted a strong, tall black man, she would have settled at least for the last part. Instead, she is introduced to Danson by her intuitive daughter after she uses her friend (played by Will Smith) to steal sperm donor records.The rest of the film is pretty much by-the-book. Father and Mother fight, get along, date, daughter gets weirded-out, parents save daughter from bad decision and hug....fade to credits and cliché song.In between:The movie IS worth watching. I give it crap because it's fairly by-the-book but it's not awful. When I first saw this film I was a fan of Danson from "Cheers" and Goldberg from her one-woman show and guest spots on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I remember being pleasantly surprised by both. Danson is an accomplished actor, best in "Pontiac Moon", and stretches his comedic skills here. Goldberg, on the other hand is best here in dramatic moments. She is warm and vibrant with splashes of real brilliance but it's not enough. It's not that she can't do the comedy at all, she is an incredible comedian, the script just doesn't give her enough to do besides be shrill and clumsy with a smattering of nice. Her few scenes with Danson are worth the time spent watching and make up for their tabloid headlines at the time. As for Smith's performance, this early role wasn't much different than most. Every minute on screen he is a joy, still in his "Fresh Prince" mode here he certainly doesn't disappoint. Nia Long is the real find here. If one person from this film should have been given a better shake than anyone it is her. She is vibrant, funny and worthy of the people she shares the screen with. That says a lot.

tfrizzell Ted Danson's run on "Cheers" was about over and it looked like he might go exclusively to the big-screen, but "Made in America" ended those hopes pretty quick. African-American high school senior Nia Long learns that she was conceived through artificial means and tries to find out who her real father is. Of course it turns out to be obnoxious car salesman Danson and this is when the comedy starts. Long's mother (Whoopi Goldberg) is really upset with the data, but actually begins to fall for Danson to Long's dismay as she wants Danson to be the father she has never had. The movie goes for comedy for the most part, but then turns dramatically in the final act and this makes the film uneven in many important respects. Everyone is adequate, but the screenplay struggles to succeed and never does really accomplish its goal. Will Smith is particularly good as Long's best friend. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

culwin I gave this movie a perfect 5, because I really couldn't say it was good or bad. This movie is so pointless - what audience were they targetting??? I saw this movie only because I had already seen everything else at the theater - maybe this was their target group. I have to tell you that watching a blank screen would have been as interesting. The only mentionable part of this movie is Will Smith, who actually does a pretty good job. Now how sad is that????