Moonstruck




Snap out of it!

Loretta (Cher) and her family (Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis) are fairly wealthy Italian Brooklyners. Loretta accepts a marriage proposal from the mild-mannered Johnny (Danny Aiello), though she doesn't really love him. Things get complicated when she meets her soon to be husband's brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage), in order to convince him to attend the wedding. Ronny is harboring a five yearlong grudge against his brother and a healthy case of self-pity. But Loretta and him hit it off, and that's about where the trouble begins.

Loretta's father, who for all accounts is still happily married, is also seeing another woman, which forms a kind of odd parallel to Loretta's issues. The whole "moonstruck" aspect comes from the frequent appearance of a large moon whenever something romantic happens. And they don't just happen. Some thoughtful consideration is put behind the motives of the characters and love itself, most effectively from Loretta's mom musing on her husband's affairs. The characters give plenty of room for such consideration. Loretta is a firm follower after the ordinary, and Ronny is anything but with his brutish passion and love for opera, of all things.

While the proceedings are occasionally romantic, the other touches are what elevate this beyond soap opera material. Who'd thought that Brooklyn could be so warm and friendly? There's plenty of it to go around here. And there's a good dashing of humor (plenty to be found with the situations) that often breaks up the drama. Still, Moonstruck never takes itself too seriously, excepting maybe Ronny's emotional monologues.

Cher turns in a to the point performance that earned her an Oscar. The chemistry between her and Cage is tangible and not entirely logical. But I suppose that's what the movie is trying to comment on. Cage brings credibility to Ronny, actually having to act, being a relatively new face in a starring role. Gardenia and Dukakis are great and bring a more identifiable sensibility to the whole affair.

Some good performances and a persistent fuzzy feeling make this worth getting moonstruck over.



-The Gnome