1056 Moonstruck

[DarkImbecile]

Moonstruck



A full moon, a New York City night, and love and music in the air . . . One of the most enchanting romantic comedies of all time assembles a flawless ensemble cast for a tender and boisterously funny look at a multigenerational Italian American family in Brooklyn, wrestling with the complexities of love and marriage at every stage of life. At the center of it all is a radiant Cher as Loretta, an unlucky-in-love bookkeeper whose feelings about her engagement to the staid Johnny (Danny Aiello) are thrown into question after she meets his hot-blooded brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage), and one night at the opera changes everything. Winner of the Academy Awards for best actress (Cher), supporting actress (Olympia Dukakis), and original screenplay (by playwright John Patrick Shanley), this modern-day fairy tale is swept along on passionate Puccini melodies, and directed by master storyteller Norman Jewison with the heightened emotion to match.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interview with screenwriter John Patrick Shanley
• New interview with scholar Stefano Albertini about the use of opera in the film
• Introduction from 2013 featuring Cher
• Interviews from 1987 with director Norman Jewison and actors Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis
• Interview from 2002 with actor Danny Aiello
• Audio interview from 1989 with Shanley about screenwriting and the development of Moonstruck
• At the Heart of an Italian Family, a 2006 program about the making of the film
• The Music of “Moonstruck,” a 2006 program featuring interviews with Jewison and composer Dick Hyman
• Audio commentary from 1998 with Cher, Jewison, and Shanley
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

PLUS: An essay by critic Emily VanDerWerff

[Matt]

Moonstruck is a perfect film and I will not brook any arguments to the contrary. This might be my most hoped-for release of all time (outside of a never-gonna-happen Complete Warhol box).

[jazzo]

E anch'io amo Moonstruck, Matt. Anche io.

[Roscoe]

It's a charming little movie, more or less, with some fine moments from a fine script and a fine cast (Nicolas Cage's remark that Marc Chagall was "having some fun" will live in my heart forever) but well, a Criterion release of MOONSTRUCK strikes me as more than the film deserves. Mileage is gonna vary here, clearly.

[knives]

On the other hand I’d easily say this is one of the best films to be distributed by them and can’t even conceive of an argument otherwise.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

The final shot alone is worth more than most of the films in the collection.

[FrauBlucher]

Not sure if this thread is dripping with sarcasm or sincerity. I will say it's as deserving as other 1980's mainstream films Criterion have released. I will be picking this up in November

[domino harvey]

I like it too. From the Oscars list:

Moonstruck Cute Italian-American romantic comedy with a light touch and easy to like characters. Cher and Olympia Dukakis won Oscars for the film and both were deserved, but I'm surprised John Mahoney didn't at least get a nom, as his skirt-chasing professor proves to be the best catalyst for Dukakis in the film and their scene together where he gives that great speech about why he always dates younger women is the film's single best moment. This is a frothy good time and another laudable example of a worthy crowd-pleaser making the mix.

[therewillbeblus]

I haven't seen this since I was a kid and I liked it even back then, so I imagine a bit of maturation isn't going to change that. And I say that as someone who is easily irked by Cher, but think she really works here.

[FrauBlucher]

Domino, I couldn't agree with you more about the Mahoney/Dukakis scene.

[The Narrator Returns]

I'm just happy for Emily VanDerWerff, who I've been following since the hallowed AV Club days and who's only gotten better since then.

[CSM126]

This is, to me, one of the most overdue MGM licenses for Criterion. One of the best romantic comedies ever made, and I look forward to revisiting it with what appears to be a comprehensive package of supplements both old and new.

If only we could convince Criterion to complete the “Great Cher movies that start with an M” trilogy by releasing Mask and Mermaids.

[Lowry_Sam]

Ugh. I remember going to this as a kid with my mom & both of us looked at each other thinking that was completely forgettable (and to date I cant remember anything from it except there was a scene while cooking toast with eggs on it). We watched the Academy Awards & when Cher won, my mom said "wow, now you can get an Oscar for just playing yourself." It was then that I realized that people don't win the Academy Award for doing a truly remarkable job, but rather for doing something merely adequate after being snubbed for more deserving work (Mask, Silkwood). In The Heat Of The Night, Fiddler On The Roof, Agnes Of God or even Rollerball would have been better picks.

[Ribs]

You may find that one of those films has, in fact, already been released.

[knives]

I’m not sure how Cher is just playing herself her or even why that would be an insult.

[hearthesilence]

When I was first heard of Cher, I knew her primarily as that Oscar-winning actress from Moonstruck, The Witches of Eastwick and The Mask, all of which seemed to play on WGN-TV all the time - I had no idea she was a recording artist, or how incongruous her later success in films must have seemed in light of her career before the '80s.

[Finch]

My husband loves this film and I like it a great deal too. The late John Mahoney is exquisite in it.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

The supposed idea that "playing yourself", whether that is an accurate description of a performance or not, is an insult brings to mind this passage from Stanley Cavell, which I'll put in spoiler tags not because it spoils anything but just to conserve space:

SpoilerShow

Regardless, I think Cher is marvelous in Moonstruck, so luminous, in fact, that I don't begrudge her winning over another of my all-time favorite performances in another of my all-time favorite movies (Broadcast News).

[domino harvey]

I’m now reminded that Mike Binder served up a kind of part two to Mahoney’s monologue in his own even better the Upside of Anger and wisely gave it to himself to perform! Now if Criterion rescues that Honorary American Desplechin film in their WB dealings, I might make a post as effusive as Matt’s leadoff myself!

[KJones77]

Honestly, this is definitely a YMMV film in my eyes. Personally, I found it insufferable when I saw it for the first time a few years ago. I've been meaning to revisit it as my memories of it largely revolve around longing looks at the stop button on my remote. I recognize that I'm not exactly in the majority here.

[Ribs]

I think the idea that Cher is "playing herself" isn't really true to any significant degree - she's not Italian, she was never particularly close with her family, she was in a stable long-term relationship for most of her young adult life. I guess the idea is she's over-the-top? Cher herself has often viewed that as a character she put on in her public persona that (at least initially) wasn't how she actually behaved, and I think a lot of those earlier shows and stuff she did with Sonny before being on her own reflects a more timid behavior then we think of her as having now. In the early 80s her career hit a serious snag and Moonstruck was the apex of a comeback that began with Altman taking the chance of casting her in Jimmy Dean on stage despite basically nill experience beyond the one movie with Sonny from decades earlier - it was a comeback story, which isn't really something we think of her as having needed now that she's been a bona fide famous person for half a century. So I would say this character reflects in broad strokes the Cher we have seen performing for decades but that doesn't mean it's not acting and it's not a great performance or movie.

I also generally question if you hold onto your opinions of what's good and bad based on what you saw when you were a child without going back for review - seems like your tastes then might not overlap with them now! This is a very beloved movie and Jewison has a pretty solid track record for one of the ultimate generic journeymen of the late Studio-new Hollywood era - the fact that despite not really having any clear authorial stamp that he has two spines and I can still imagine a few more as possible in the future should demonstrate his basic competence.

[movielocke]

This is to me the most pleasing release of November, I’ve actually been wanting to watch it again the past few months so a really happy surprise.

[colinr0380]

Its strange that this is the film that completely passed me by whilst I seem to have seen almost every film that was influenced by it in the years that followed such as The Butcher's Wife, Angie and Stanley & Iris. So it will be interesting to finally see the originator!

(P.S. I'd love a Criterion edition of I Love You To Death some time, hint, hint! )

[jazzo]

(P.S. I'd love a Criterion edition of I Love You To Death some time, hint, hint! )

Unfortunately, I think Sony, themselves, are releasing that next on Blu-ray next month, Colin. If I'm not mistaken, most of those releases are region free, too, with little no extras attached to them.

[Lowry_Sam]

My mother's comment during the Awards ceremony wasn't meant as an insult. We actually had watched the Sonny & Cher show regularly & enjoyed it. Her comment was that her performance in that film didn't require great skill. Mind you she was competing with Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons, though Fatal Attraction also was that year, and Holly Hunter in Broadcast News, though Raising Arizona also was that year. I didn't dislike the film (when I was actually late in my teens), I just didn't find it particulaly memorable & failed to see what all the hype was that surrounded the film ["One of the most enchanting romantic comedies of all time"] - I felt exactly the same thing about Big Night, a decade later. I guess I could watch them again to re-appraise, but my strong feelings of indifference lead me to suspect my opinion won't change much.