Mystic Pizza

I have always thought Mystic Pizza was a very good, light hearted film. It's extremely well acted, the script is solid and witty, the cinematography is just heavenly (those Autumn colours are sensational!), and the story itself is heart warning and poignant. There comes a time in every young person's life when they have to figure out which direction they want to head, how they are going to get there and whether or not they will stay in the environment that reared them or branch out, beginning a new life. However, despite the uncertainty that plagues teens and twenty-somethings, there is one universal bond that will seal all cracks and that is friendship, which is the core of Mystic Pizza.

This unbreakable duo of friends consists of a then unknown, yet incredibly very striking Julia Roberts. She gives a bright, charismatic performance as the wayward and confused Daisy. Her care free nature is a strong contrast to the level headed, smart and introverted Kat, played by the absolutely gorgeous Annabeth Gish. Last, but certainly not least, is the tempestuous and indecisive Jojo. There's also the men in their lives, the handsome upper-class WASP Charles, who is a little bit of a snob, the unavailable dad Tim (William R. Moses) who has his wandering eyes set on the sensitive, intellectual Kat and Bill (Vincent D'Onofrio), the long suffering husband-to-be of Jojo. The wonderful thing about this film is it never judges its female characters for their promiscuity, nor does it reduce them to crowd-appeasing stereotypes when it depicts their uncertainty or reluctance in picking a "suitable" partner, nor does it imply that they really need one. See the resolution of Kat's brief fling with the father of the girl she babysits. They don't run off, living happily ever after, and Kat, clearly changed by the event, doesn't fall into the lap of the next man who shows her attention. Genre clichés are nicely avoided and what's important here, ultimately, is friendship not love or a man.

Mystic Pizza is definitely one of the better coming-of-age, small town friendship films, worthy of a lot more than the fairly dismal 6.1/10 rating it currently has.

Mystic Pizza is a pleasant-but-slow slice-of-life comedy-drama. It centers on the lives of 3 young waitresses in a Pizza Parlor in blue-collar Mystic, CT. The parlor's owner is a hard-scrabble-with-heart-of-gold Portuguese "princess" buoyantly portrayed by Conchata Farrell. She makes the scene where the food critic tastes her pizza the most memorable in the movie.

As for the girls, two of the three stories work well. Lili Taylor is a revelation as the fun-loving JoJo coming to terms with the cliche her life is and how to come to terms with the love she feels for stalwart-but-limited Bill, winningly portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio (now of Law and Order: CI). These two light up the screen with humor and awkward aplomb. Julia Roberts puts her raw-but-winning talent on display as the blue-collar Daisy, a student-teacher in the school of hard-knocks.

The one unfortunate element is that the movie spends far too much time on a nowhere relationship between Annibelle Gish and preppy husband-away-from his wife portrayed by the affable but feckless William R. (aka Billy) Moses. This story just makes the movie drag.

But overall, Mystic Pizza is a kind of young-woman-oriented Diner, amiable, fun, and chock-full of young talent.

This "sleeper" hit looks just as good today as it did when it was first released. It follows the trials and tribulations of three childhood friends. They all work as waitresses in a pizza parlor and all are at a crossroad in their life. Kat (Annabeth Gish) is preparing to leave home for Yale to begin a career in Astronomy. Daisey (Julia Roberts) Kat's sister, seems to be floundering, with no real direction to go in life, and JoJo (Lili Taylor, who gives the film's most comedic performance), is torn between her love for her fiancé Bill, and settling down into a married life filled with screaming kids and massive weight gain.

The film integrates all three stories and keeps the plot moving at a brisk pace. All three friends have very different personalities, allowing most of the audience to be able to identify with at least one of them. I will admit, however, that the ultra idealistic, goodie-goodie Kat does get on my nerves from time to time. (I particularly enjoyed the scene where Daisey hauls off and belts her across the face). The chemistry between the leads works extremely well which only strengthens the movie. Roberts gives a strong performance and shows the audience the first signs of the Hollywood powerhouse she would soon become. The three leads are admirabley backed up by a strong supporting cast as well, most notably, Conchata Ferrell as the owner of the pizza parlor. All in all, a very sweet movie about real people and real family situations, and it remains one of my favorite movies of all time. I literally never tire of this modern classic. My only quibble is that the last spoken line is disturbingly unimaginative and anti-climactic. After crafting such a superb screenplay, the writers just seemed to run out of inspiration at the last hurdle. As Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating."

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

This was one of THE slumber party movies when I was in high school, and fourteen years later I still enjoy it. Of course now I realize what a jerk the married man is from the first time he looks THAT WAY at Kat, and I'm a little surprised (although I married young myself) to see young marriage portrayed positively in a major motion picture. It's also refreshing to see Julia Roberts before she acquired the required Hollywood Superstar Anorexic Look.

Some of the scenes that make me laugh as much now as they did when I was 15: The Porsche full of fish, and JoJo's parents' and boyfriend's reaction when JoJo and Bill are caught in a compromising position. This film has some very tender moments as well. A warning, however: the last line will probably make you groan.

It's not terribly deep, and it's not going to win the Palme D'Or. But it's well worth putting in the VCR on a quiet evening when your husband's out or your girlfriends are over.

"Mystic Pizza" is the film that served notice that Julia Roberts, about 20, as "Daisy", was destined to be a name actress. The movie's name comes from the location - the pizza shop in Mystic, Conn., a fishing village with a concentration of Portuguese immigrants. Teenager Matt Damon also had a small part, as the younger brother "Steamer" of the rich boyfriend.

The 4 women in this film - the 3 waitresses and the pizza shop owner - all have significant hurdles to cross. The pizza shop is in financial danger, and depends on a great review by the food critic to bolster business. Daisy is somewhat of a misfit, a hothead with a lot of talent but somewhat lacking in focus, and who is being courted by a rich guy. Another, bound for Yale but financially poor, and things get complicated by her increasingly close relationship with the father who hires her as a babysitter while mom is working in England. The other faints at the altar, and is having trouble with commitment, while her fisherman boyfriend continues to try and get her to marry him.

The acting is uniformly good, and there are both serious and funny situations. It is an easy movie to "get into", and there is a good sense of completion when it ends. I just wish they had revealed the secret ingredients in the pizza sauce. The stories and situations are not particular novel in movies, but the movie is well put together and lets us see a few actors at the beginning of their careers. ______________________ August 2020 update: My wife and I just watched it again on BluRay from our public library. Even though we knew what was coming we enjoyed this repeat viewing.