Moonstruck

Premiere Magazine listed this film as one of the 20 most overrated movies of all time. When you look at the critical acclaim and awards it won upon it's release in 1987 it's pretty hard to disagree. Moonstruck is a romanticised and lighthearted looked at infedility - so I can see why the oft-divorced Hollywood elite would take such a shine to it. Moonstruck cheekily represents the adulterous urges of it's protagonist as the result of a full moon... the idea of the moon making people do crazy things in love isn't a new thing, but to make it the patron saint of cheating is something else altogether. No doubt it struck a chord with the Academy at Oscar time, a romantic comedy that excused their past and present indiscretions must've appealed to them.

It's not a rubbish movie, it's actually a quirky and enjoyable drama full of vivid Italian-American characterisations. There are occasional flashes of poetic and witty dialogue, and Cher is interesting to watch as a dowdy, cynical widow who believes she's cursed with bad luck. She plays Italian convincingly, with thick eyebrows, prematurely greying hair and an effortless grasp of Italian-American vocal inflections. I could've done without the glamourous makeover she has near the end though, it kind of spoils the illusion of her performance to see her looking like Cher amongst all the other characters. Plus the revelation that she's not such an ugly duckling after all is hardly a surprise to the audience.

The idea of Nicholas Cage playing opposite Cher though... well, it boggles the modern mind. It's also strange to see Cage in a (relatively) serious drama but still doing his crazy Nic Cage schtick. I found it a little hard at first to get a handle on the relationship between Cage and Cher's characters. They're evidently people going through the motions of their humdrum lives after experiencing tragedies in love. In each other they awaken a new passion for life, but I'm just not sure if I believe it. Cage's character is a bit of a 'bad boy' type and the age difference doesn't seem to help either. The film is mostly just melodrama, light jokes, and people bumping into each other to impart odd bits of wisdom. It's enjoyable in a midday-movie kind of way but is mostly fairly forgettable and pretty much without any real merit.

DIRECTOR: Norman Jewison
WRITER/SOURCE: John Patrick Shanley
KEY ACTORS: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, Danny Aiello, John Mahoney, Feodor Chaliapin Jr.

RELATED TEXTS:
- Director Norman Jewison would return to themes of romance, Italians and fate in Only You.
- Other romantic films of a similar style include Return to Me, Once Around, Manhattan, Roxanne and Sleepless in Seattle.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - won Best Actress (Cher), Best Supporting Actress (Olympia Dukakis) and Best Screenplay. Also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Vincent Gardenia), Best Director and Best Picture.
BAFTAs - nominations for Best Actress (Cher), Best Supporting Actress (Dukakis), Best Screenplay and Best Score.
Golden Globes - won Best Actress - Comedy/Musical (Cher) and Best Supporting Actress (Dukakis). Nominated for Best Actor - Comedy/Musical (Nicolas Cage), Best Screenplay and Best Film (Comedy/Musical)