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5.3/10
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A high-powered attorney duct tapes her adulterous husband to the toilet ... right before their home is invaded by burglars.A high-powered attorney duct tapes her adulterous husband to the toilet ... right before their home is invaded by burglars.A high-powered attorney duct tapes her adulterous husband to the toilet ... right before their home is invaded by burglars.
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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.
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.
Louise: Because, my love, you are going to stay there until we work things out.
And so begins this drama between a married couple with no children, he a corporate office employee, she a successful lawyer.
I agree with most all previous posters mentioned. To pull off a story that will keep you interested until the very end with just 3 major players is quite a feat. The strength lies, of course, in the powerful dialogue between them. But more than that, this story is not just a flick on failed relationships, but on WHY they fail. Luoise (Meg Ryan) cannot and will not accept the fact that Ian (Timothy Hutton), her husband, wishes to leave her. She cannot accept he has fallen in love with a lovely, younger woman. But the truth is not so simple. If you listen carefully past the hurt locker, you will hear reasons, good ones, as to why these things happen. The fault is not entirely the wife's, but it is not entirely the husband's either. What happens is that in most cases, problems never get talked about and discussed. In this story, events unfolded in such a way they were forced to.
But then again, we have the usual guilt/blame game. It took both of them quite some time to accept where they had failed, Louise much longer than Ian. In the middle, you have Sara (Kristen Bell), who obviously loved Ian and went to lengths to fight for him. In the end, as they say, may the best man (or woman) win, but if you notice carefully, there was something lacking in Ian when these scenes were being played out, something which makes you think , "Ok, now, seriously, are you gonna be a man about this or what?" I couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl - she was obviously sincere and showed it without compunction.
However, just when you think you've got it all figured out and you see the pieces falling into place, well here comes the final scene, where you say, "What? what just happened...hello? what was that? run that by me again?" and you feel like I did, like the wind had just been knocked out of me and I sat staring at the screen wondering what I saw. Ingenious! I'm sitting here writing this and still turning this scene over and over in my mind, contemplating the different possible meanings.
I don't agree the movie is a waste of time or disappointing. Don't think this is another exercise at flogging the dead horse of marital what-have-you problems. No, this is an ingenious and well-written story, a bit off the regular path, yes, and bizarre in some ways, but well done. I don't think anyone's acting was poor either. The humorous parts made me laugh, and the sad ones made me shake my head in sorrow.
Watch it and enjoy yourself! Well worth it!!
And so begins this drama between a married couple with no children, he a corporate office employee, she a successful lawyer.
I agree with most all previous posters mentioned. To pull off a story that will keep you interested until the very end with just 3 major players is quite a feat. The strength lies, of course, in the powerful dialogue between them. But more than that, this story is not just a flick on failed relationships, but on WHY they fail. Luoise (Meg Ryan) cannot and will not accept the fact that Ian (Timothy Hutton), her husband, wishes to leave her. She cannot accept he has fallen in love with a lovely, younger woman. But the truth is not so simple. If you listen carefully past the hurt locker, you will hear reasons, good ones, as to why these things happen. The fault is not entirely the wife's, but it is not entirely the husband's either. What happens is that in most cases, problems never get talked about and discussed. In this story, events unfolded in such a way they were forced to.
But then again, we have the usual guilt/blame game. It took both of them quite some time to accept where they had failed, Louise much longer than Ian. In the middle, you have Sara (Kristen Bell), who obviously loved Ian and went to lengths to fight for him. In the end, as they say, may the best man (or woman) win, but if you notice carefully, there was something lacking in Ian when these scenes were being played out, something which makes you think , "Ok, now, seriously, are you gonna be a man about this or what?" I couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl - she was obviously sincere and showed it without compunction.
However, just when you think you've got it all figured out and you see the pieces falling into place, well here comes the final scene, where you say, "What? what just happened...hello? what was that? run that by me again?" and you feel like I did, like the wind had just been knocked out of me and I sat staring at the screen wondering what I saw. Ingenious! I'm sitting here writing this and still turning this scene over and over in my mind, contemplating the different possible meanings.
I don't agree the movie is a waste of time or disappointing. Don't think this is another exercise at flogging the dead horse of marital what-have-you problems. No, this is an ingenious and well-written story, a bit off the regular path, yes, and bizarre in some ways, but well done. I don't think anyone's acting was poor either. The humorous parts made me laugh, and the sad ones made me shake my head in sorrow.
Watch it and enjoy yourself! Well worth it!!
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.
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.
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!
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!
Serious Moonlight won Best Film at the Orlando Film Festival. To be brutally honest, I think winning had much more to do with leads Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, along with director Cheryl Hines, being far and away the most well-known participants, than it did with the quality (or relative lack thereof) of the film itself. Obviously, SERIOUS was adapted from or inspired by a play. Set in a house, in 5 brief acts; nearly half of the on-screen time is spent in the bathroom, of all places! The basic premise seems like a sure-fire winner: Not-so-successful, burned out husband decides to leave much more successful lawyer wife before she gets home from vacation, for his ditsy, twenty-something secretary. Returning home a day early, wife (Meg Ryan) catches hubby(Timothy Hutton) sneaking out in Stealth Mode. This apparently transports wife into the Twilight Zone, because, from that moment on, she exhibits the most un-attorney-like comportment imaginable! Totally losing touch with reality, she decides to "kidnap" husband until he has "retuned to his senses" and abandons the idea of abandoning her. Despite some genuinely funny moments, SERIOUS fumbles the execution. Novice Director Cheryl Hines (WAITRESS) introduced the film. She seems like a sweet, wonderful person; a more than competent actor; and a totally unimaginative, inexperienced and lackluster director. One sequence, halfway into the film, is particularly annoying: Husband and wife, tied up in the bathroom, enter into a prolonged argument. For what seems like an endless loop, the only shots/edits we get are ping-pong talking heads. That's it! Ms. Hines, should you somehow get another shot at directing, and the result is not noticeably superior...I suggest you permanently hang-up your director's cap! Timothy Hutton and a rejuvenated Meg Ryan both turn in commendable, but somewhat strained performances (The result of over-direction?) 2 things saved SERIOUS: A fair share of laugh-provoking moments, and acts 3+4.(Far superior to rest of film)
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie is dedicated to actor and director Adrienne Shelly, the writer of the film, who was murdered in 2006 when she caught a man, who had broken into her office, stealing money from her purse.
- GoofsIn the scene where Sara arrives and Louise has to tape Ian, the tape almost touches his left side-burn while, when coming back to the house the tape now is far from it.
- Crazy creditsIn the opening credits Timothy Hutton is referred to as Tim Hutton
- SoundtracksGetting Some Fun Out of Life
Written by Edgar Leslie and Joseph A. Burke
Performed by Madeleine Peyroux
- How long is Serious Moonlight?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Serious Moonlight
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $25,339
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $11,636
- Dec 6, 2009
- Gross worldwide
- $348,327
- Runtime1 hour 21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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By what name was Quitte-moi... si tu peux! (2009) officially released in India in English?
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