This is obviously inspired by the Kurt Weill musical which replaces the Greek Venus with an Egyptian princess. The film opens up with the very funny scene of Egyptian Kim Cattrall being nagged by her Brooklyn accepted mama (Phyllis Newman) to accept a marriage proposal which causes her to disappear and come back to life as a mannequin in Philadelphia where she is put together by the artistic Andrew McCarthy and later reunited with him at Estelle Getty's failing department store.

The store's creepy boss (James Spader) wants to see the store bought out so he can get a good payoff but McCarthy and the mannequin who comes to life after the store closes help turn sales around with the help of the sweetly flamboyant window designer Meshach Taylor. Spader joins forces with the closeted but homophobic night guard G.W. Bailey to get something on McCarthy, giving this a nice twist on anti-gay bigotry and showing a nice friendship between a straight man and a gay man simply based on human decency.

Then there's Carole Davis, the pretentious sometime girlfriend of McCarthy who wants to steal him for another store and pound the final nail into Getty's store. There's lots of interesting plot twists that makes this stronger than your average romantic comedy and there's a sweetness that makes this loveable in every way.

Taylor's character may have a stereotypical manner but he's irresistible. Getty is nothing like her "Golden Girls" character although she is very sassy when she finally stands up to the nasty Spader who hysterically reminded me of "How to Succeed in Business's" Bud Frump. McCarthy and Cattrall are a delicious team, and their mystical romance is one of the best screen relationships of the 1980's.

Emmy (Kim Cattrall) was born in 2514BC Egypt. Her family wanted her to be married off to a camel dung dealer. She wished for a different life and the gods send her soul into a modern day mannequin. Jonathan Switcher (Andrew McCarthy) can't hold onto a job. It takes him three days to make a mannequin. When he saves an old lady (Estelle Getty),it turns out that she's the owner of a failing department store. She gives Jonathan a job, and he's reunited with the magic mannequin that turns into Emmy when he's alone with him.

This is cheesy 80's flic. It's got all the silly moments. James Spader is the ridiculously sleazy executive trying to torpedo the store. G.W. Bailey is the ridiculously stupid night watchman. Steve Vinovich is the ridiculously evil owner of the competition. And Meshach Taylor is the ridiculously over the top gay Hollywood. It's bad smelly cheese. But it's heart is in the right place. So I won't completely destroy this. Go ahead and just enjoy the smelly cheese.

In Edfu, in the ancient Egypt, the young Ema "Emmy" Hesire (Kim Cattrall) is a woman ahead of time. When her mother tries to force her to marry a manure dealer, she wishes to go to the future and vanishes.

In the present days, in Pennsylvania, Jonathan Switcher (Andrew McCarthy) is an idealistic young artist that builds a mannequin. However, he is inefficient and can not keep his jobs and his ambitious girlfriend Roxie (Carole Davis) leaves him. But Jonathan sees his mannequin in the window of the Prince and Company Department Store.

On the next morning, he saves the life of Ms. Claire Timkin (Estelle Getty),who owns the Prince & Co., and she asks the corrupt manager Richards (James Spader) to give the position in the stock to Jonathan. The Prince & Co. is near bankruptcy and the Illustra Company intends to but it, using Richards to sabotage the Department Store.

Emmy comes back to life for Jonathan and they arrange wonderful windows. Jonathan is promoted to window dresser, working with the gay Hollywood Montrose (Meshach Taylor) that becomes his friend. Soon Jonathan becomes a successful designer, leveraging the Prince & Co and is promoted to VP. But Illustra's General Manager, Roxie and Richards want to force Jonathan to work for Illustra and kidnap Emmy.

"Mannequin" is one of my favorite films and I can not precisely tell how many times I have watched it. Andrew McCarthy was successful in the 80's and Kim Cattrall is one of the sexiest Hollywood actresses ever. The excellent James Spader is caricatural in the role of Richards and Meshach Taylor is hilarious in the role of a gay window dresser. The result is one of the funniest and most delightful comedies of the 80's. The soundtrack is also wonderful. Unfortunately the IMDb User rating does not mirror the truth about this wonderful and romantic fantasy. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Manequim" ("Mannequin")