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Rating: 4.75 out of 5
Oh, to be in love. To love someone so dearly that all you can see is heart shapes around them and get those butterflies in the pit of your stomach. I think Nat King Cole sang it best, “L is for the way you look at me. O is for the only one I see. V is very, very extraordinary. E is even more than anyone that you adore can.” Whoops, sorry! The film we are reviewing is Moonstruck, and it has another song that begins the film and tells about love. It goes a little something like this, “When the moon hits your eye, Like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”
Directed and co-produced by Norman Jewison, written by John Patrick Shanley, Moonstruck is a romantic comedy that follows Loretta Castorini, a widowed Italian-American woman who falls in love with an unlikely character. Loretta Castorini (Cher) is a Brooklyn bookkeeper in her late 30s whose husband died two years earlier in a bus accident. Loretta believes she is cursed because she didn’t follow tradition, which is why her husband died. Recently, Loretta has been dating Johnny Cammareri (Aiello), a middle-aged Italian who decides to propose to her. Loretta seeing this wants to make sure she does things the right way and not get married at City Hall, yet Loretta isn’t really feeling Johnny at all. Loretta speaks with her mother about it and believes it is the safe thing to do. Yet, Loretta has to wait as Johnny must go to Italy and be with his “dying” mother. He can officially marry her until she is dead, but he wants her to connect with his estranged brother Ronny (Cage). When Loretta meets Ronny for the first time, her world changes, and she sees that Ronny is the complete opposite of Johnny. Ronny is moody and filled with so much passion. As the two get to know each other, drama is sure to unfold.
At the heart of the story is love and reminding yourself that you can love and that grudges, vendettas, old wounds, and hatreds come on the opposite side of love, and the film presents all these themes. The main story is with Loretta and her discovery that she can still love, but with all the drama attached to it, and let me tell you, the grudges are extreme. Loretta is in her late thirties and dating Johnny, who proposes to her but also believes that she is cursed based on her first marriage, where her first husband died for failing to follow tradition. Let me get this out of the way; what type of marriage proposal is that? Dude kept rubbing his scalp like it was on straight fire. Then he just asked Loretta to marry him. Didn’t even get on his knee or have a ring. She was like, you better get down on one knee, which he gets on both knees like he is begging. Then when she asks about a ring, he doesn’t have one, so she asks about his pinkie ring, but he is attached to it so much he doesn’t want to give it up. Do you even want to get married bruh? Here, it seems like neither one of them want to get married. Loretta appears to go through the motions. Johnny literally flies to Italy to be with his dying mother, where more drama unfolds. Still, Johnny wants her to connect with his estranged brother Ronny.
The beauty of the film unfolds when Cher meets Ronny, and she soon sees that she is capable of love. I don’t know if she is infatuated with Ronny and his whole monologue. The two get together and do that Al Green, “Let’s Get It On.” Even when she “protests,” she wants it. You see that she really is falling in love with Ronny as she does a makeover that will make any person’s mouth drop. When they go to the opera, it is a sweet date for the two of them. The liquor store scene is the most adorable moment that deals with finding love. Loretta sees the owners arguing as the wife claims the husband was looking at other women. She says he looks at women like a wolf. He gave the sweetest response and said that when he looks at his wife, it’s the girl he married.
Now let’s get into the other side of love that the film goes into, which is some grudges and vendettas and the works. Let’s just say the film gives you many of them. The primary one is with Ronny. Oh, does Ronny has some issues with his brother. Ronny says his brother took his life, and what is done can never be undone, and his whole story about losing his hand is the cause against his brother. The story is that One day Johnny made Ronny look the wrong way at the wrong time, and he lost his hand in a bread-slicer. When he showed his finance before, she went off with another man because of it. Now Ronny carries a grudge against his brother and uses his artificial hand as proof of his hatred. Also, the hurt that goes into love. Rose knows that her husband is being unfaithful and yet says nothing about it and just deals with it. Loretta sees her father, Cosmo, together with his girlfriend, Mona, and confronts him. We also see a scumbag professor trying to hook up with student after student. With love comes pain. Also, when Cher speaks to the elderly woman at the terminal, she shows grudges against her sister for stealing her man and wants the plane to explode. Straight savage.
Cher and Nicolas Cage stand out the most with all that went on. Cher is stunning as Loretta Castorini. A woman who doesn’t think she can love but loves her family to death and finally finds the love of her own. Her makeover was terrific, but the whole scene of take me was funny and a little over the top.
I really want to talk about the unique and extreme Nic Cage. Cage has always been a little out there but looking at him in his younger days is PRICELESS. When he tells his story about his hand and how his brother took his life and everything, he is calm but can tell he wants to go a little over the top. He uses the line, “bring me the big knife,” to perfection. What makes his scene even better is that the woman cries as he states he dreams of happiness is hilarious. The girl says he is the most tormented man and that she loves him. Yet, he cleans up well but still, being Cage is entertaining.
Finally, let’s give a shout-out to Olympia Dukakis as Rose Castorini. Olympia was simple and downhearted as Rose. A woman whose husband is fooling around on her, but she never raised her voice or even confronted it. She just went through life being very faithful to God, but she should’ve hit her husband with a pan. Should’ve beat his ass because she could’ve taken him. Yet, I like her character because she is a good and loyal woman.
Moonstruck is a film filled with many storylines about love, grudges, and acceptance. The performances of Cher, Cage, Dukakis, and others will make you either smile, laugh or be angry at what is happening to them. Cage is one to look for as the wild hair Ronny. Watch this with a loved one and look at the moon if it is out because it might look like a giant snowball.
