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MOONSTRUCK
The atmospheric direction of Norman Jewison, a stylish and humorous screenplay, and some absolutely winning performances are the primary ingredients of Moonstruck, a delicious marriage of romantic comedy and character study that is so completely engaging and mounted in such loving detail that it won three Oscars and was a nominee for Best Picture of 1987.
This is the story of Loretta (Cher), a widowed bookkeeper in Brooklyn, on the cusp of spinsterhood, who finds herself engaged to a sweet buffoon named Johnny (Danny Aiello) who has to leave town when his mother becomes ill, but before he leaves, he asks Loretta to contact his brother, Ronnie (Nicolas Cage) and invite him to the wedding. Loretta tracks down Ronnie working underneath a bakery in the ovens, where it is revealed that he hates his brother and blames him for a baking accident in which he lost his hand and the woman he loved. Loretta manages to temporarily talk the explosive young man down and before you can say "romantic triangle", Ronnie decides that he is in love with Loretta.
There is another story perfectly integrated with this one revolving around Loretta's parents. Her dad, Carmine (Vincent Gardenia) hates Johnny and thinks Loretta is cursed where men are concerned and while offering Loretta lots of free advice about men, is cheating on Loretta's mother, Rose (Olympia Dukakis) with a woman named Mona (Anita Gillette). It's revealed that Rose knows her husband is cheating but remains silent and has her own brief encounter with a stranger (John Mahoney).
It is screenwriter John Patrick Shanley's perfect melding of these two very special stories, possibly influenced by the patterns of a very large moon that follows our central characters around and is possibly monitoring their romantic destinies that won this film the Oscar for its very special screenplay, which is clever and contemporary, yet wrapped in old fashioned Italian culture that makes being Italian seem the only way to be...not since Big Night, have I seen a more shining endorsement for being Italian.
Shanley's screenplay also creates some realistic characters that make some contradictory moves that don't make a lot of sense as they're happening. Loretta tells Ronnie it's over after she wakes up after realizing she has cheated on her fiancee and yet agrees to accompany Ronnie to the opera that night. And that's another thing...when we first glance Ronnie under the bowels of this bakery, he is practically this drooling neanderthal screaming about all the injustices life (and his brother) have dealt him and a couple of scenes later, he is revealed to be an expert on La Boheme and Chagall. But we are so behind the character by this time and his mission to win Loretta that we let it slide.
Cher got the role of a lifetime here as Loretta and lights up the screen in a performance that won her the Oscar for Best Actress (but was she really better than Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction?) and Olympia Dukakis won Best Supporting Actress for her beautifully underplayed Rose. Cage has rarely been sexier onscreen and Vincent Gardenia also scores as Loretta's dad. The film is bathed in rich Italian atmosphere, utilzing some exquisite NYC location filming and some gorgeous music from Pucinni, Dean Martin, and even Vikki Carr. A joyous romantic comedy that will definitely leave you warm and fuzzy on the inside.
The atmospheric direction of Norman Jewison, a stylish and humorous screenplay, and some absolutely winning performances are the primary ingredients of Moonstruck, a delicious marriage of romantic comedy and character study that is so completely engaging and mounted in such loving detail that it won three Oscars and was a nominee for Best Picture of 1987.
This is the story of Loretta (Cher), a widowed bookkeeper in Brooklyn, on the cusp of spinsterhood, who finds herself engaged to a sweet buffoon named Johnny (Danny Aiello) who has to leave town when his mother becomes ill, but before he leaves, he asks Loretta to contact his brother, Ronnie (Nicolas Cage) and invite him to the wedding. Loretta tracks down Ronnie working underneath a bakery in the ovens, where it is revealed that he hates his brother and blames him for a baking accident in which he lost his hand and the woman he loved. Loretta manages to temporarily talk the explosive young man down and before you can say "romantic triangle", Ronnie decides that he is in love with Loretta.
There is another story perfectly integrated with this one revolving around Loretta's parents. Her dad, Carmine (Vincent Gardenia) hates Johnny and thinks Loretta is cursed where men are concerned and while offering Loretta lots of free advice about men, is cheating on Loretta's mother, Rose (Olympia Dukakis) with a woman named Mona (Anita Gillette). It's revealed that Rose knows her husband is cheating but remains silent and has her own brief encounter with a stranger (John Mahoney).
It is screenwriter John Patrick Shanley's perfect melding of these two very special stories, possibly influenced by the patterns of a very large moon that follows our central characters around and is possibly monitoring their romantic destinies that won this film the Oscar for its very special screenplay, which is clever and contemporary, yet wrapped in old fashioned Italian culture that makes being Italian seem the only way to be...not since Big Night, have I seen a more shining endorsement for being Italian.
Shanley's screenplay also creates some realistic characters that make some contradictory moves that don't make a lot of sense as they're happening. Loretta tells Ronnie it's over after she wakes up after realizing she has cheated on her fiancee and yet agrees to accompany Ronnie to the opera that night. And that's another thing...when we first glance Ronnie under the bowels of this bakery, he is practically this drooling neanderthal screaming about all the injustices life (and his brother) have dealt him and a couple of scenes later, he is revealed to be an expert on La Boheme and Chagall. But we are so behind the character by this time and his mission to win Loretta that we let it slide.
Cher got the role of a lifetime here as Loretta and lights up the screen in a performance that won her the Oscar for Best Actress (but was she really better than Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction?) and Olympia Dukakis won Best Supporting Actress for her beautifully underplayed Rose. Cage has rarely been sexier onscreen and Vincent Gardenia also scores as Loretta's dad. The film is bathed in rich Italian atmosphere, utilzing some exquisite NYC location filming and some gorgeous music from Pucinni, Dean Martin, and even Vikki Carr. A joyous romantic comedy that will definitely leave you warm and fuzzy on the inside.