Plot
In Ancient Egypt, Ema "Emmy" Hasure hides in a pyramid from her mother, who wants her daughter to marry against Emmy's will. Emmy prays for the gods to get her out of this mess, and the gods answer Emmy's prayers; she travels through time, on a hunt for true love.
Philadelphia, 1987; when young mannequin-manufacturer, Jonathan Switcher, loses himself in his work with a particular model of mannequin (because, according to himself, artwork cannot be rushed), he is fired. Jonathan finds odd jobs; yet none of these jobs work out because his sculptor background makes him less than ideal for them. While on a moonlight walk with his girlfriend Roxie Shield, Jonathan sees the mannequin he created (and was fired over) in the window of Prince & Company, an upscale department store.
The next morning, Jonathan waits outside the store. He saves the manager, Claire Timkin, from being crushed to death. The grateful Claire hires Jonathan under protest from Vice-President Richards, who assigns Jonathan to be a stock boy. In his spare time, Jonathan hits it off with flamboyant window dresser Hollywood Montrose who has been working with Jonathan's mannequin. That night, Hollywood and Jonathan construct a window display. They have a run-in with the store's night security chief, Captain Felix Maxwell, and his cowardly bulldog Rambo. When Jonathan is alone with her, the mannequin he is obsessed with comes to life as Emmy (a la Pinocchio). The next morning, Jonathan tells Roxie about Emmy. She does not believe him.
Jonathan's window-dressing for Prince & Company attracts large audiences, including Roxie and, unfortunately, B.J. Wert, president of Illustra, a rival department store. It is revealed that VP Richards is a corporate spy for Wert. At their next board meeting, Richards wants to fire Jonathan (ostensibly for showing off with the window displays), but Claire points out that Jonathan's designs are increasing sales for the store. Richards proposes to sell Prince & Company to Illustra for 10% of the former's value, but Claire refuses. The other board members promote Jonathan to visual merchandising.
Emmy and Jonathan's relationship snowballs over the following week. Every night, she helps him and Hollywood create window displays which dazzle everyone at Prince & Company and which, ultimately, makes the store famous throughout Philadelphia. Both dressers still have to deal with Captain Maxwell and Roxie – the latter of whom also has to deal with Armand (Christopher Maher), another Illustra employee who keeps angling for sex with her. One morning, Maxwell is caught sleeping on the job by Claire, who fires him for this. VP Richards sticks up for Maxwell, but succeeds only in getting himself fired also. Claire promotes Jonathan to vice-president.
Meanwhile, the window designs are still bringing in a tremendous amount of profits and customers for Prince & Company, at Illustra's expense. Armand sneaks into Prince & Company at night and takes pictures of Emmy. The jealous Wert sees the pictures and calls in Richards. They plan to steal Emmy – not knowing that she is alive – and put her on display at Illustra. Jonathan takes Emmy for a ride on his motorcycle. Roxie offers Jonathan work at Illustra, but he already has a job; moreover, he and Emmy are in love.
Maxwell and Richards break into Prince & Company. They search for Emmy but cannot tell her apart from all the other mannequins, so they wind up stealing every mannequin in the store. The next morning, Hollywood and Jonathan discover what has happened to Emmy. They dash to Illustra and look around for her. When Wert offers Jonathan Richards' old job, Jonathan suspects the truth and turns him down. Roxie storms out of the office, swearing that Jonathan will never lay eyes on Emmy ever again. Jonathan chases Roxie into an "employees only" area of the store. He is pursued by a dozen security guards, including Maxwell who has a new attack dog named Terminator. The dog completely ignores Jonathan. Roxie loads Emmy and all the other stolen mannequins into a trash incinerator. Jonathan is cornered by Maxwell's security team, but Hollywood assist by bombarding the guards with a fire hose. Jonathan charges up the trash incinerator's conveyor belt to rescue Emmy. She comes to life in his hands; the machine's operator, upon seeing this happen, hits an "Emergency Stop" button.
Maxwell and his fellow guards rush in, followed by Wert, who attempts to have Jonathan arrested for trespassing. Then Claire walks in with a VHS tape from her newly-installed CCTV system. Wert attempts to seduce Claire, who rebukes him, and Richards and Maxwell are arrested for breaking and entering, conspiracy, the kidnapping of Emmy, and grand theft. Seeing Emmy alive, Maxwell questions his own sanity; the police drag him away to a mental hospital. Wert's final act as president of Illustra is to fire his whole staff, including the treacherous Roxie. Claire, who now owns Illustra as well as Prince & Company, promotes Hollywood to manage the former.
Emmy and Jonathan are married in the shop window of Prince & Company, with Claire as a bridesmaid, and with Hollywood as best man. Looking on, the entire Prince & Company family congratulate them.
Read more about this topic: Mannequin (1987 film)
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