We acquired and watched the film ‘Moonstruck’ in 2012, but had entirely forgotten what it was about. So we decided to watch it again, hoping for a light evening’s viewing.
Cher is the star of this film, as the thirty-something Italian American Loretta. She works for Johnnie (Danny Aiello) and they get along well. She was widowed when she was younger, and so although she doesn’t love Johnnie, she likes him very much and she agrees to marry him.
However his mother is dying, and he needs to visit her. He asks Loretta to call his brother Danny (Nicolas Cage) and invite him to the wedding, saying that they’ve been out of touch for five years, but not explaining why…
Loretta finds that Danny is very angry, unwilling to forgive his brother for a tragic incident that, he insists, destroyed his life. Loretta is immediately attracted to him, and decides to try to persuade him to make up with his brother… and they are inevitably drawn together.
Meanwhile her father Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia) who is married to Rose (Olympia Dukakis) is seeing another woman. And her aunt and uncle, who clearly love each other, keep getting into silly arguments. Oh, and there’s the grandfather, who is a tad deaf, and has several dogs that he takes out for walks.
There’s no great plot, but it’s a light-hearted look at Italian-American families, with plenty of hugs, meals, and heated debates. It was made in 1987, and feels not just a tad dated but rather sexist; perhaps that was typical of the era and the culture. There are some mildly amusing moments, and some poignancy too, particularly when Loretta learns what exactly happened five years earlier.
Cher is excellent as Loretta, although in the scenes where she dresses up, after a makeover and new haircut, we thought she looked fake and unattractive, unlike her ‘normal’ look. Apparently her ethnicity is Armenian, but she managed to look Italian. There was also an uncanny resemblance to Olympia Dukakis, who was more-or-less unknown before this film. She, too, somehow came across as Italian although we knew she has Greek roots.
The men, on the other hand, all came across as rather caricatured. And the storyline is a bit disjointed, with several scenes including a sight of a large full moon, that ties the subplots together, but doesn’t really do anything for the story or characters.
It was a pleasant enough light evening’s viewing, but nothing special.
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