Serious Moonlight

This is one of the better movies I have seen this past month or so.

Meg Ryan puts on a marvelous performance as the slightly crazy wife doing whatever she can to make her husband love her.

This is a comedy unlike most other comedies out there. It had really good dialogue and some nice scenes. You just curl your toes at the extremes Meg Ryan's character goes to for making her husband stay with her. Now, it is not a comedy that will make you roll over laughing with tears streaming down your cheeks, but it is funny and have a very believable feel to it. You really get to feel for the characters of the movie.

I like Meg Ryan as an actress, and this is one of the better roles I have seen her portray in awhile. A good step away from the usual romantic comedies that she have been making.

Without giving away too much of the story, I found the plot to be very predictable. Very easy to figure out what happens early on and also easy to figure out how it will end - it is a Hollywood movie after all. And I am not just saying that because I am taped to a toilet!

Ian (Timothy Hutton) wants to have a day with his mistress Sara (Kristen Bell) but his high-powered lawyer wife Louise (Meg Ryan) surprises him by showing up a day early. He is packing to leave her when she takes him prisoner. She vows to win him over. She lies to Sara about their impending separation and sends her away. While Louise is out, Ian gets the attention of lawnmower Todd (Justin Long). Instead of helping, Todd starts robbing the home.

Adrienne Shelly has written a quirky story. However it doesn't have enough comedy and directing novice Cheryl Hines is unable to inject any. Ryan and Hutton are angry but the comedy falls flat. The quirky tone is not funny until the last act when Hutton, Ryan and Bell are locked in the bathroom. It's a little late although it's good to end on a good note. The movie needs to have that tone from the start.

It's been a full two decades since Meg Ryan emerged from a series of background girlfriend roles to become America's Sweetheart in 1989's "When Harry Met Sally…", but in this strangely conceived 2009 comedy, she still has that undeniable twinkle in spite of all the age-defying cosmetic alterations to her face. The screenplay is the last work of the late actress Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed, and co-starred in 2007's agreeably idiosyncratic "Waitress", and what they have in common is her supple dexterity in balancing the off-kilter elements of her stories into something deeper. This time, she takes a darker, less whimsical path in exposing the insidious nature of a marriage that has dissipated from a lack of communication. Her "Waitress" co-star Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") takes the helm in her directorial debut, and her lack of experience may attribute to the fact that it feels more like a filmed stage play despite Nancy Schreiber's expert cinematography.

The brief story focuses on married couple, Louise and Ian, on a day when they unexpectedly cross paths at their bucolic vacation home. A high-powered fortyish attorney, she comes home to find her house showered romantically with rose petals and Ian writing a Dear Jane letter to her. He has decided after thirteen years of marriage that he wants a divorce, so he can rendezvous with his 24-year-old girlfriend Sarah in Paris. Unwilling to accept that her marriage has gone kaput, Louise inadvertently knocks him out with a flower pot and takes advantage of his unconsciousness in order to duct tape him to a chair until he relents. This is the beginning of a roundelay in which they spar about the merits of their marriage. Ian spends most of the 84-minute running time stuck on the toilet as he faces one humiliation after another. Even though Louise exhibits vaguely sociopathic behavior, she does not represent the only threat to Ian.

There is a nasty twist to the story in the form of an interloper that turns their vituperative cat-and-mouse game into a game of survival. The open ending doesn't quite satisfy, although the implications that it raises lends texture to what has gone on before. Ryan acquits herself well as Louise, and although it's not remarkable work, it shows that the actress could thrive into middle-age with her fizzy spirit intact. She manages to give heart to the tenacious hold her character has on her flailing marriage. In a welcome big-screen return as Ian, Timothy Hutton does what he can under a lot of duct tape in a mostly passive role with moments of vented exasperation, while Kristin Bell ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") shows surprising grit as Sarah, especially toward the end when the women grapple on the bathroom floor. Justin Long provides a menacing edge to the smallish role of the lawn-mowing low-life. More than Hines' workmanlike direction, Shelly's somewhat uneven screenplay offers enough dark elements to make the contrived set-up worth accepting for the sake of the unfolding story she wanted to tell.

I feel that 'Serious Moonlight' is a misunderstood movie. People seem to be under the impression that it's just another 'French Kiss' (mostly because of the misleading trailer). The similarities are minimal. The references (perhaps unintentional) are quite amusing but it must be said that 'Serious Moonlight' is no romantic comedy. It's more of a black comedy about a couple going through a stale marriage that is on the brink of breaking point. When the husband announces that he's leaving his wife for a twinkie, in a final desperate attempt the wife tries to win him back. However, she doesn't follow him all the way to Paris (which is what happened in 'French Kiss'). She ties him up, with duct tape, in their farm house.

Unlike the kind of humour that's often used in a romantic comedies 'Serious Moonlight' is a lot more tongue in cheek and even dark at times. Cheryl Hines, who's already known for her comedic talents, proves to be a competent director and with the late Adrienne Shelly's funny and yet thought-provoking screenplay, she has made something entertaining. I found most of the dialogues laugh-out-loud funny.

Timothy Hutton finally gets a part that's just right for him as he does full justice to Ian. Meg Ryan looks great and she's superb as the almost insane Louise. Justin Long and Kristen Bell provide hilarious support.

The twist in the end was cleverly done and works as a good conclusion with a funny touch.

First off, don't buy this movie unless your a colector of Meg Ryan films etc...

Secondly, rent it only when you have rented 90 percent of all the other movies you want to see....

Meg Ryan, and I am a fan, was quite good in this film and for that reason only I have rated it a 6 out of 10.

I don't want to give away any part of the movie at all however, there is a scene with Timothy Hutton (Ian). I guess its a dream or a flashback, i'm not at all sure how it fits into the film but its half way in and its at least a minute long where most woman will be absolutely shocked that Meg Ryan was part of this filth.

My suggestion, watch it with your female friends, most men will only appreciate 1 minute of this shocking film.