In gara con la luna

Unlike most Hollywood movies that must be pigeonholed into categories--comedy, drama, romance--this movie dared to be all of these. And it dared to be low-key, without large, manufactured tragedies or plot hooks. Rather, it had the elegiac mood and idiosyncratic details of a fine short story, with its characters neither good nor bad but human, their lives honestly and touchingly observed by a sensitive screenwriter and director.

We never get to see the two main characters in the movie go to War. This world war 3 setting coming of age drama is not so much about the war over in Japan but the war on the home front. Growing up in 1943 in small town California, searching for love and meaning. Sean Penn is great in his role. Even more, Nicolas Cage is better as his close friend and side kick. Whether for comic relief of ream moments of edgy drama, Cage delivers. Also, a surprise in the movie is the performance of Elizabeth McGovern who is always beautiful. The three quickly discover life as they grow up before the two boys are shipped out to the Pacific. Michael Madsen and Crispin Glover pop into the movie with small roles. A nice movie, I wasn't expecting much until the movie started. It is a guarantee crowd pleaser.

Coming-of-age piece set in small town America during WWII. Sean Penn has seldom been so youthfully exuberant and amiable playing a young working-class man about to go off to war, finding love for the first time with a sweet lass he presumes is wealthy ("a Gatsby girl"). Richard Benjamin's direction is sensitive and breezy, and Elizabeth McGovern is a good romantic match for Penn (though sometimes she talks down to him, like a big sister might). Nicolas Cage is also fine as Sean's goof-off buddy, yet the slim screenplay hasn't enough meat on its bones and the middle portion of the film goes around in circles. The period flavor has been captured with non-showy flair, and Penn's exceptional performance is winning, making the film a nearly-satisfying nostalgic drama. *** from ****

If you like the romance movies this one is the one. It is smart in a nice way and its dramatic. It takes place in 1940s. Elizabeth McGovern is great, Nicolas Cage, And Sean Penn. :):):):):):) I dont know why they call it racing with the moon. watch it!!!!

Saw it in 85 on video with my then girlfriend and another couple, we 18 yr old guys were like chick flick? Great. And as it turned out it was great, the Characters were all flawed and a bit overacted but that was ok, it was believable and a window into another time, that maybe we didn't understand or agree with it being the party 80s and all. But it was still clean fun and nostalgic in a way to young people who were basically watching their grandparents lives a few decades earlier. A few things still stand out. The pool hall scene, the necklace, and McGovern and Penn at the end. Loved her in Once Upon A Time In America and him since At Close Range with Ronnie Walken and Bad Boys with Clancy Brown and Ally Sheedy (aka weird dandruff girl in The Breakfast Club) 4 great movies of the time. Recommend watching Racing and all the other movies I have referenced in this remembrance if not a revue.