Éclair de lune

I don't know what it is about this movie, but there is something about it that just makes me happy! Olympia Dukakis is wonderful, Cher totally deserved her Oscar, and the usage of La Boheme is absolutely beautiful. The scene when that beautiful moon rises above New York never fails to give me chills. What a great movie! Five Stars!

The romantic comedy Moonstruck is directed by Norman Jewison and stars Cher and Nicolas Cage. The film takes place in modern day Brooklyn.

The film starts off with Loretta Castoroni (Cher) in a restaurant with Johnny Cammareri (Aiello). Johnny proposes to Loretta and after a bunch of little jokes she agrees to it. Loretta was married once before but her husband was killed by a bus. She claims that she had bad luck because they did not have a proper marriage and she wants it to be so that this time everything goes just right. Loretta lives with her mother and father, as well as her grandfather. She also sees her aunt and uncle very often because they as well live in Brooklyn. Johnny goes to Sicily to be with her on her deathbed and gives Loretta the task of contacting his brother, Ronny (Cage), and inviting him to the wedding. The two brothers have not spoken to each other for five years so Loretta has to patch up their relationship. Well when she goes to see him she doesn't do anything to help patch that relationship up...

The screenplay for this film was very good from John Patrick Shanley and he won an Oscar for it. Loretta was a very real character which is always great because an audience can't relate to a main character that seems fake. He did a great job of creating a family vibe and getting a lot of very smart and funny dialogue in the script. Ronny Cammareri was an over the top character yet in a way he added much to the plot because Loretta was so real and down to Earth. Overall a very well written script and a classic romantic comedy.

The direction of the film was fine as well. Jewison had many memorable shots throughout the film, such as when Loretta went to confession how only the priest's hands were shown of his and nothing else. Also, I liked how the framing of the shot of Loretta and Ronny looking at the moon, it just had a classic feel to it. Jewison did an excellent job working with his actors since two of them received Oscars the one was nominated. He as well deserved the Oscar nomination that he received.

The acting in the film was also very good. Cher gave an excellent performance as Loretta and it is very memorable. She is definitely one of the most talented entertainers out there to be such a great singer and a great actress. What was great about her performance I thought was her eye movement. It was just brilliant the way she looked at the other actors. Nicolas Cage was a little over the top but he needed to be because his character was. His performance does not really show any range, but his career is still young and as it grows he proves that he is as well a great actor. Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis gave marvelous performances as well as Loretta's mother and father. Gardenia was a very over the top kind of man that was kind of a stock character of a Brooklyn father but he did a fine job as the role. Dukakis was basically an older version of Loretta and played the part as well as Cher. A finely acted film.

Overall I give this film a very strong 7/10 because romantic comedies aren't really my favorite genre, but this is one of the best ones out there. I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of romantic comedies.

'Moonstruck' is a love story. There is not one romance, there are at least three, but they all have to do with the same family. Loretta's family. Loretta (Cher) is about to marry Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello). She doesn't love him, but he is sweet and good man. When he leaves to visit his dying mother in Italy Loretta meets Johnny's brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage). He and Johnny haven't spoken each other in five years and Loretta wants to invite him to the wedding. Of course they fall instantly for each other.

How this story and love stories of Loretta's parents and uncle and aunt develop is something you simply have to see for yourself. Every seen is a delight to watch, with Cher as the bright star in the middle of everything. She won and really deserved the Oscar that year. Cage is pretty good, and goofy as well, and Olympia Dukakis as Loretta's mother and Vincent Gardenia as her father are terrific. This movie is funny, charming and therefore highly enjoyable.

Maybe we should be committed, but my husband and I have memorized virtually the entire movie. Neither of us has ever been so in love with a film. The reason this movie "struck" us so I think is because it illuminates the human heart at it's romantic best. Not to mention that there is a line in this movie appropriate for almost any of life's experiences. I don't know how we would get through a day without it! I guess we truly are lunatics! Ha. Perhaps in our love relationships, we should see one another in the romantic glow given off by the bella luna. I can't pick a favorite line, but the scene when Loretta first confronts Ronnie in the bakery is powerful, moving, and Nicolas Cage at his very best "I ain't no monument to justice!...". Also, when he walks her to his place in the freezing cold and tells her "we're not here to make things perfect. We are here to ruin ourselves and love the wrong people..." Permission to be passionate and flawed.

Trivia-Did you know that the second slap Loretta gives Ronnie when she tells him to "snap out of it!" was impromptu, and that they both cracked up after that and filmed the rest of that scene struggling not to burst out laughing?

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.