Mystic Pizza (1988)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

the audience applauded

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Great watch from beginning to end. Roberts, Taylor and Gish shine in this film with lovely supporting performances from Conchata Ferrell etc. The film deviates away from the whole 'brat pack' style of 80s coming of age films which is refreshing (no disrespect to Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink etc.) and creates a new perspective of 3 young teenage girls growing up in a small town and having their own inner unique hopes and anxieties for their futures making this film as relevant it is today as it was 30 years ago for young teenagers both female and male alike.

In the small coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut, there is the title pizzeria run by an elder Portuguese couple with three young women as waitresses, two sisters who don't get along and their friend. The pizza served at the establishment is known to have a secret recipe which makes it especially wonderful, as a food critic in the story points out.The elder sister is set to go to Yale on a partial scholarship, while the younger one is less responsible and meets a young man from a rich family, hoping he might provide a means for her to leave her small town life. Their friend was set to marry her fiancé, but she fails to go through with it despite the fact the she still wants him. The sisters find romance, but said relationships do not go smoothly.Rather overlong and predictable, though the movie is notable for Matt Damon's first (minor) movie role and one of Julia Roberts' early starring roles.

"There are forty kinds of lunacy but only one kind of common sense" - a proverb says. It appears that, similarly to modern politics, today's cinema tends to be polluted by aberrations of a certain kind - the aggressive, pervasive, and loud extremes representing a nasty insult to the common sense. Moreover, the once distinct line between the mainstream and the extreme appears to have blurred. Many mainstream movies can now be considered to be extreme in a certain sense while independent movies have grown so numerous, popular, well-organized, and influential that they managed to successfully form their own local "mainstream".On one end of the specter reside many of the popular mainstream movies. Being predominately designed for the viewers with the mental capacity of a twelve year old and the moral awareness of Pinocchio before he became a boy, these are intellectual disasters and moral failures also lacking logic, vision, imagination, authenticity, good taste and all the remaining qualities of a decent movie.On the other end, often obscure, pretentious, artificial, abstract, and whimsical, independent movies nowadays can be just as unsubstantial and inauthentic as most mainstream movies are. "Mystic pizza" - not a perfect movie by any means - comes across as naturally enjoyable, funny, emotional, and captivating precisely because it deals with the real life issues familiar to most people. It resides in the real world on planet Earth and not in one of the superficial, artificially enhanced imaginary universes that serve homes to so many movies, both mainstream and independent.Secondly, "Mystic pizza" is a rare case of a movie that offers a good message without being forceful, contentious, or didactic. Just by telling its simple but touching and engaging coming of age story of three likable girls with all the challenges that they face, choices that they make, and mistakes that they learn on, "Mystic pizza" manages to unobtrusively deliver a few simple life truths that appear to be easily discounted and overlooked by both mainstream and independent cinema. I think it never hurts to be reminded of such timeless truths as "true love is inseparable from honesty, commitment, and sacrifice", "an affair is morally wrong, painful, and destructive", or "hard work brings you dignity that money cannot buy".The three blue-collar girls from a small New England town of Mystic – genuine, hardworking, responsible, caring, strong and independent but overall respectful to their parents could serve as a positive role model for many modern teens. Unfortunately, the girls from the movie also represent a stark contrast to the ever-increasing number of self-obsessed, lazy, spoiled, irresponsible, immature young adults, who appear to be unprepared for the real world challenges and somehow end up being both hopelessly dependent on their parents and disrespectful to them at the same time.In 1989, "Mystic pizza" earned a well-deserved Independent Spirit award for the Best First Feature. The movie still remains among the best works of its writer Amy Holden Jones and its director Donald Petrie who have both gone mainstream since then. Amy Holden Jones is now mostly known for the "Beethoven" franchise, whereas Donald Petrie seems to have been recently focusing on the quite lightweight, purely entertaining formulaic comedies like "Miss Congeniality", "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", or "My Life in Ruins".In addition to the good story and the solid directing, "Mystic pizza" offers almost perfect casting and generally strong acting, both ensemble and individual. The movie happens to be one of the first full-length features with Julia Roberts (Daisy Arujo). Right from the beginning, it becomes clear that Ms. Roberts has a remarkable talent – something that she successfully proved in many movies that followed.Annabeth Gish and Lili Taylor were charming and convincing in the roles of the two other teen girls - Kat Arujo and Jojo. Vincent D'Onofrio delivered a strong supporting performance as Jojo's fiancé Bill - a simple (but not an ordinary) fisherman. Adam Storke was able to find all the right accents for the role of the carefree and easygoing rich kid Charles Gordon Windsor, Jr., Daisy's love interest. Joanna Merlin was perfect in a small role of Mrs. Arujo - Kat's and Daisy's wise hardworking mother.Despite being rated "R" (mostly because of some language and sensuality), "Mystic pizza" seems to feature less questionable or offensive content than many of the more recent "PG-13" movies. It is a good chick-flick and a good date movie. It is also one of those movies that might be worth watching together with your high school age kids as a good illustration to the difficult choices that they will soon (or might already) be facing, conflicting feelings that they will soon (or might already) be experiencing, and hard decisions that they will soon (or might already) be making.knowyourmovie.blogspot.com

Tired, cutesy-poo romantic comedy-drama concerning the love lives of three young Connecticut women who work in a homey little pizza parlor. "Mystic Pizza" begins with a shot of fabricated group photos featuring the central characters in happy times, the faces of the actresses clearly cut out and pasted on other bodies. It's an immediate sign that not much know-how, cleverness, or talent was used in conceptualizing this picture, which is strictly an underachiever lucky enough to gain attention after Julia Roberts' career picked up. Young, impressionable girls might find something emotionally tangible here, but seasoned moviegoers should quickly detect the artificial flavoring. Amy Holden Jones co-wrote the screenplay (based on her original story) with help from Alfred Uhry and Perry and Randy Howze, all of whom seemed to have been raised on TV. *1/2 from ****