Product: Moonstruck (1987)
Rating: 5.0
Rom-com magic
If you despair over the current state of the romantic comedy, take a trip back to the golden age of 1987 and revel in the riches of MOONSTRUCK. Garnering Academy Awards for Cher (Best Actress), Olympia Dukakis (Best Supporting Actress) and John Patrick Shanley (Best Original Screenplay), MOONSTRUCK was sparklingly brought to the screen by director Norman Jewison (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) in all its hilarious, character-driven glory.Set in New York's Italian Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, Cher plays young widow Loretta Castorini, a freelance bookkeeper living with her parents, Rose and Cosmo (Dukakis and the late, great Vincent Gardenia). Loretta is in a loveless engagement, settling for a future with three-piece-suited mama's boy, Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello). But Johnny's mama is on her deathbed in Sicily (where, one gets the feeling, she's been for 30 years), and he must rush to her side. Before he leaves, though, Johnny gets Loretta to promise to go see his estranged brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage). There is bad blood between the siblings and Johnny wants to make up with Ronny and invite him to the wedding.Where Aiello's Johnny is a stick-in-the-mud, Cage's Ronny nearly bursts with operatic passion. Stoking the ovens at the neighborhood bakery with his wooden hand (a bread slicer accident, caused when Johnny distracted him), Ronny is at first off-putting to the down-to-earth Loretta. But it doesn't take her long to get caught up in Ronny's lust for life and opera, and under the influence of a romantic full moon, the two of them fall into each other's arms.Love and complications are in the air all over MOONSTRUCK. Cosmo is in the midst of his own affair with Mona (Anita Gillette), which Rose is wryly aware of. And in the midst of sorting out her own feelings, Rose strikes up a relationship with middle-aged Perry (John Mahoney), whom she witnesses continually getting dumped by younger girlfriends at her local restaurant. Everything comes together in a beautifully executed, farcical ending, in which Loretta's grandfather (Feodor Chaliapan) delivers one of my favorite movie lines ever. (I won't give it away here.)Everything about MOONSTRUCK is sublime. With his background as a playwright (DOUBT), Shanley's screenplay is superbly structured, and his dialogue presents an embarrassment of memorable riches for the wonderful cast, which, under Jewison's insightful direction, hits all the right notes. As her Oscar demonstrates, Cher has never been better. And Cage's bizarro energy is reined in to a perfect level. If you've ever looked at either of these actors' later work and wondered why they are movie stars, MOONSTRUCK will answer all your questions.Veering between the realistic and the idealistic, David Watkins' cinematography gives the movie an appropriately romantic patina, as does Dick Hyman's wonderfully executed score. Overseeing the proceedings, director Norman Jewison maintains a magnificent balance. Like his contemporaries, Sidney Lumet and Mike Nichols, Jewison has never been a showy filmmaker with a signature style. The philosophy of these masters is that the style of the picture should always be dictated by the story. With a cosmic coming together of talents, MOONSTRUCK is probably Norman Jewison's best.