Moonstruck (1987)

What makes it different from others?

good back-story, and good acting

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I have seen all the ads, but never saw this movie until now, wondering if it was worth the hype. Yes and no.Cher plays a young widowed bookkeeper living with her stereotypical quirky Italian extended family, when an ethnic Sicilian man who was a friend of her late husband proposes to her and she accepts, not really loving him but wanting a husband. But the man has to visit Sicily to visit his dying mother, and he wants to reconcile with his estranged brother, so he has Cher do the job. Trouble is, when Cher visits the brother, he wants her for himself...This is a romantic comedy, not just involving Cher but other family members and people they know, and we wonder how everything is going to turn out. The ending is a decent surprise at least.

When the above line is uttered by a tearful, elderly character at the end of this wonderful, funny, charming romantic comedy, I laughed so hard, my ribs hurt. The film is a heart warming look at a quirky Italian-American family in Brooklyn that happens to be going through some relationship issues. It is a multi-layered story with some terrific vignettes and the script, cast and performances are all first rate. Cher, Olympia Dukakis (both Oscar winners), Vincent Gardenia and Danny Aiello have rarely, if ever, been better and the tuneful and romantic score is an added treat. This is a must-see and another gem from the great director Jewison.

No sooner does Italian-American widow Loretta accept a marriage proposal from her doltish boyfriend, Johnny, than she finds herself falling for his younger brother, Ronny. She tries to resist, but Ronny lost his hand in an accident he blames on his brother, and has no qualms about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls deeper in love, she comes to learn that she's not the only one in her family with a secret romance.......Moonstruck is a very odd affair, it's a good film, that goes without saying, but nothing really happens in the film, apart from a few family revaluations that are not that surprising anyway, as you find during the beginning of the second act, there is not one happy member of Cher's Nuclear family.Then the moon comes out and Cher realises that Cage is the one for her. Why? Because he's edgy, he's angry, he's unhinged, and the fact that he more or less forces himself on her makes him irresistible, but then, Aiello is portrayed as a bit of a wet blanket, so,you can't really blame her.But what makes the film so watchable is just how natural the family seem when they are siting around the table eating dinner, or whatever meal it is, and the scene where they are waiting for Johnny to return is an absolute hoot.It's harmless fun, Cher does grieving by adding a little grey to the front of her hair, and Cage is as brilliant as you remember, but you will find yourself wondering at what exact point he got his eyebrows and teeth done.And it also goes to show that My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a cop out, and ripped this film off no end.

There's something endearing about movies about love that try their hardest to be as unromantic as possible. First the clunkiest proposal you can imagine, nestled in a backdrop of rocky marriages, then the bride-to-be falls in love with the fiancé's brother and the film follows that thread. Sexually charged infidelity as the main plot in a film about love. Fortunately, John Patrick Shanley's tight witty script is what holds it together and it offers profound insight into love in the face of mortality. Love is complicated and Moonstruck encapsulates that chaos. It's a film drenched in its Italian American culture, paired with its operatic score, and that needs an acquired taste. I struggled to feel close to any of the characters, though I empathised with Cher and Nicolas Cage, an unexpected highlight in his most vibrant scenes. I wasn't as impressed with Oscar winners Cher and Olympia Dukakis as I hoped, they're both subdued and a little too much is lost in what they hold back. Nevertheless, I always trust a Norman Jewison picture and this is a worthy addition to his range.7/10