Moonstruck (1987)

Starring: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, and the dad from Frasier
Grade: A

I thought I was sick of hearing Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore” since it’s so overplayed, but Moonstruck made me love it again.

That’s tough to do.

Summary

Through the credits, things are being set up for a show at the Metropolitan Opera.

In Brooklyn, New York, Loretta Castorini (Cher) walks to the Nucciarone Funeral Home to do the taxes of owner Al Conti’s (Tony Azito). Later at some flower shop owned by Carmine, Carmine talks about how beautiful some roses are that some guy bought, but Loretta doesn’t understand why someone would spend so much money on something that will end up in the garbage. Even so, she does admit she loves flowers. Because of this, he gives her a rose, and she thanks him. That night, Loretta is with her boyfriend Johnny Cammareri (Aiello) at Italian restaurant Grand Ticino. Speaking to their waiter and friend Bobo (Robert Weil), Johnny tries to order for the both of them, but Loretta tells Johnny to not get the fish before the plane ride to Sicily because it’s oily and won’t sit right. She orders the manicotti for the both of them instead, and he appreciates how she looks after him. The two are interrupted after seeing older man Perry (Mahoney) with a younger woman named Patricia (Lisa Howard) at another table. He said something that offended Patricia, so she throws her drink on him and leaves. Perry tells the waiter to get rid of all her stuff so there is no evidence of her being there. Then, he asks for a glass of vodka. Back with Loretta and Johnny, Johnny laughs because this man couldn’t control his woman, but Loretta explains that the girl was too young for him. Away from the customers, Bobo speaks to his nephew and tells him that Johnny is going to propose to Loretta and he’s happy because Johnny has been a customer to him for 20 years. He’s going to wave at them, and Bobo is to serve the champagne to set everything up. Later, Loretta wants the check, but Johnny wants to check out what they have for dessert, something Loretta notes he never does. He starts getting nervous and rubs his scalp until Bobo brings over the dessert cart. Out of nowhere, Johnny proposes to her. Loretta sends Bobo away with the cart. She brings up how her first husband died and how she thinks they had bad luck. They got married at the city hall, and she thinks that played a major factor.

From the start, they did everything wrong. If this marriage proposal is real, she wants to do it right this time. In doing so, she asks Johnny to kneel. Already, he complains that he’s wearing a new suit, which she knows because she picked it out, as it comes with two pairs of pants. Even so, it’s custom to kneel and she wants it done.

So, Johnny kneels awkwardly and goes over to her, and everyone starts to look at them. Bobo even comments to his nephew that Johnny is ruining his new suit. Perry asks the waiter if Johnny is praying. Anyway, Johnny forgot the ring, so Loretta tells him to use his pinky ring. He initially protests because he likes that pinky ring, but she wants to do this proposal by the book. He relents and proposes the right way, and she accepts. The whole restaurant starts clapping for them as Johnny asks Bobo for the check. On the drive home, Johnny says he still has to go see his mother because she’s dying. Once he gets back, they’ll get married. Johnny’s mother only has one or two weeks left. Loretta wants to set a definite date, but he’s not sure why they can’t just leave it up in the air until he gets back. They agree to having the wedding a month from the day, and she will be happy to plan the whole thing. She says goodbye to him at the airport. Before he gets on the plane though, he wants Loretta to do one thing for him. He wants her to call the number he gives her and to ask for Ronny (Cage). Ronny is Johnny’s younger brother, someone who Loretta didn’t even know existed. Ronny and Johnny have bad blood and haven’t spoken in five years, but Johnny wants Loretta to invite him to the wedding. Following this, Loretta watches the plane as it’s about to take off. She stands next to some old woman. The woman says her sister is on the same plane and she put a curse on it because her sister stole a man from her 50 years ago. Today, this sister told the woman that she never loved the guy and only did it in spite of her. Loretta tells her she doesn’t believe in curses, and the woman says she doesn’t either. Even so, Loretta still looks at the plane for a moment before shaking her head. Loretta goes to a liquor store and picks up a bottle of champagne. While there, she overhears the old couple that own the place argue. The wife thinks the husband was looking at some girl, but he calms it down by saying that when he looks at her, he sees the girl he married all those years ago. Loretta smiles and exits as the couple laugh together.

Going back to her house in Brooklyn Heights with her parents, she greets her grandfather, who is only referred to as “Old Man” (Feodor Chaliapin Jr.), and his dogs before going over to her father Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia). Cosmo is sitting in a chair because he can’t sleep, so the two go into the kitchen for Loretta’s big news. She pours two glasses of champagne and tells him she’s getting married. He’s surprised because of her previous marriage and still talks about how it was all bad luck, though she argues that her previous husband was hit by a bus. Cosmo brings up how him and Rose (Dukakis) have been married for 52 years and nobody died, but someone did die in only two years of marriage for her. He doesn’t think Loretta should go through with it because it won’t work out for her. When he hears its Johnny, he calls him a big baby and wonders why he’s not here to tell him. Loretta brings up Johnny’s dying mother and how he has to fly back to Sicily, but Cosmo considers this to be more bad luck. Basically, Cosmo doesn’t want to come to the wedding. Loretta says he has to give her away, but he points out how he didn’t do it the first time either. Loretta uses this to possibly explain some of her bad luck, and he calms down a bit, realizing this might be true. Previously, she had no reception, no wedding cake, and nothing else resembling a normal marriage. She wants to do things right. After criticizing the pinky ring Johnny gave her, Loretta asks if he’s coming to the wedding. Changing the subject, he says they have to tell Rose. They wake her up, and she immediately asks who died. Cosmo tells her Loretta is getting married, and she responds, “Again?”. Rose asks if she loves Johnny, and Loretta says “No”. According to Rose, this is good because “When you love them, they drive you crazy because they know they can”. Thankfully, Loretta does like him and talks happily about how she’s going to get married at a church and have a big reception. Plus, Cosmo is going to pay for it because the father of the bride pays. He can’t believe this and argues that he doesn’t have any money, but Rose says he’s “rich as Roosevelt” and is just cheap.

Once Cosmo leaves, Rose tells Loretta that he never used to be cheap. It’s just that now, he thinks that if he holds onto his money, he will never die. Downstairs, Cosmo is playing some Vikki Carr record, which annoys Rose because when he does this, he comes to bed and won’t touch her.

The next morning, the Old Man walks his dogs over to a gravesite. As him and his friends huddle over the grave of Foncica, the old man thinks his son Cosmo should pay for the wedding, but it’s important to not look ridiculous. He then talks about how the moon brings the woman to the man. Eventually, he takes the dogs back to the apartment where Rose is making breakfast. Loretta joins Rose, and they discuss how Loretta won’t be living there with Johnny because Cosmo hates him, how Rose will consider selling the house, how they didn’t sell the house going into Loretta’s previous marriage because Grandma was still alive and because Loretta’s brother Chiro was still at home going to school. Now, Chiro is married and in Florida. Rose happily considers the hypothetical of Loretta and Johnny living there and having a kid, but Loretta has to remind her that she’s 37. Rose argues that she didn’t have Chiro until after she was 37 and that “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”. Even so, Loretta says Johnny has a big apartment, so she’ll just move in there. Rose again brings up selling the house, prompting an agitated Loretta to tell Rose she loves living there but Cosmo doesn’t like Johnny, plain and simple. Rose confirms this point. They are interrupted by the phone ringing, so Loretta tells Rose that she will get it. It’s Johnny calling from his mother’s deathbed in Sicily. He hasn’t told her yet that he’s getting married but plans on it when she’s at peace. Seeing that she’s yelling at nuns while he’s on the phone call, this is probably a good idea. Loretta still tells Johnny not to wait until she’s dead. Johnny asks if she’s called Ronny yet, but she forgot to. He wants her to do it today, and she agrees. These five years have been too long between him and Ronny, and he really wants him there at the wedding. He starts to get emotional, but Loretta is getting bored with his overdramatic delivery. She once again agrees to talk to Ronny but also wants Johnny to call her once he finally tells his mother the news. After he hangs up, he walks towards his mother and cries loudly over her, but she’s fine and looks annoyed with him.

Right after, Loretta calls Cammareri Bros. Bakery to talk to Ronny. The phone is relayed to him, and Loretta explains the situation and how Johnny couldn’t call him himself because he’s in Palermo. Ronny is adamant in that what happened can never be made right and he hangs up immediately. Not giving up, Loretta goes to Cammareri’s to talk to Ronny in person. She’s taken over by cashier Chrissy (Nada Despotovich) to where the ovens and Ronny are. Once she finds him, Ronny correctly deduces she’s here on behalf of Johnny. He goes on about how he has no life, how Johnny took it from him, and he demands Chrissy get him the big knife so he can cut his throat. Loretta offers to come back another time, but he wants her to stay and watch him kill himself. Chrissy still refuses to get him the knife. Changing the subject, Ronny brings up the real reason he’s pissed. He pulls the glove off his left hand, and it’s a wooden prosthetic. Five years ago, he was engaged, and Johnny came into the bakery and ordered bread from him. Ronny accidentally put his hand in the slicer, and it got caught, chewing off his hand. When his fiancé found out about it, she left Ronny for another man. That’s the bad blood between them. After hearing the story, Loretta doesn’t see why it’s Johnny’s fault, and Ronny flips out. More of it seems to be the jealousy stemming from Johnny still having his hand and a bride and he doesn’t. He gets saddened talking about lost dreams and walks off. Chrissy admits to her co-worker that she’s in love with the tormented Ronny. Loretta catches up to Ronny and still wants to talk, so they go back to his apartment above the bakery. Elsewhere, Cosmo sells some couple in their apartment on $10,800 worth of copper piping in their bathroom, and he meets with some woman at a restaurant that he’s cheating on Rose with, gifting her a gold bracelet. Back at Ronny’s apartment, Loretta makes Ronny a steak even though he doesn’t want it. He adds that he likes it well-done, but she tells him it will be bloody as it will “feed your blood”. Once they sit down to eat, he admits the food is good.

They discuss how Johnny met Loretta because he knew Loretta’s previous husband, how her previous husband got hit by a bus, how they got engaged yesterday, how Ronny hasn’t had a woman since his fiancé left five years ago, how Loretta’s previous husband died 7 years ago, and how she’s only been with Johnny since then. They start giving each other shit over the relationship issues, and Loretta has enough of Ronny thinking he’s the only one who has suffered in life. Now, she wants some whiskey. Elsewhere, Cosmo drops off the woman. Back at the apartment, Ronny and Loretta share some whiskey, and Ronny thinks his fiancé was right to leave him. Loretta thinks this is stupid and talks about how she was raised to marry young but held out for love and got married at 28. Her husband wanted to have a baby right away, but she wanted to wait. Unfortunately, he was hit by the bus soon after. She was left with no man and no baby, nothing at all. She relates this to Ronny’s relationship and how he can’t see what the woman saw. Calling back to the couple at the liquor store when the wife was getting on the husband for looking at other women, Loretta calls Ronny a “wolf”. The woman was a trap for him, and he couldn’t get out. He found his escape through chewing off his own foot, and it’s a metaphor for his hand incident. He was willing to go that far to escape wrong love, and she thinks it scares him. That’s why he hasn’t had a woman since. She thinks Ronny is scared what the wolf inside him will do if he makes the same mistake again. He starts to get mad, but she doesn’t back down. He asks why she’s marrying Johnny, and she explains that it’s because she has no luck. Ronny retorts that Johnny made him look the wrong way and he cut off his hand. If she marries Johnny, he might make her look the wrong way and she’ll lose her whole head. They argue further until Ronny flips the table, picks her up, and kisses her. She pushes off at first, but then they start making out.

He takes her over to the bed and they continue. Though Ronny brings up Johnny, Loretta tells him to take out whatever issues he has with Johnny on her. So, he obliges, and they have sex. Now, Loretta has to figure out what to do next as she’s now right in the middle of these two brothers. She’s engaged to one and wants to marry him, but her mind really wants the other. At the same time, her father Cosmo is still cheating too.

My Thoughts:

A little off center, Norman Jewison’s madcap Moonstruck is one of the most memorable romantic comedies in existence, and it only ages better with time.

The film is different in that the main plot points involve the main characters cheating on each other, but yet, it’s still somehow a sweet and good-natured romantic story. Everyone involved knows cheating is wrong and they all feel guilty in the right moments, but the story is done well enough to where their actions are not necessarily justified but understood in context. I don’t think it’s appreciated how difficult a feat this is to pull off considering the story, but it succeeds at an impressive level. John Patrick Shanley’s screenplay is excellent in regards to the nitty gritty of relationships, love, emotions, the complexities of relationships and instincts, and the unpredictability of where the heart can take you. The chemistry of this entertaining cast is what makes it all come together. Everyone knows their role and does it well. Whether it’s John Mahoney as the old womanizing professor who dates his students until they realize they’re too young for him, or it’s Olympia Dukakis’s amusing portrayal of family matriarch Rose who struggles with her husband’s infidelity and how to react to it, all the subplots fill in the cracks to show different sides of authentic relationships while our main characters struggle with their own unique situation. In an Oscar-winning turn by Cher, the headstrong Loretta is at a pivotal moment in her life. She’s a 37-year-old widow who is convinced that she, and her previous marriage, was riddled with bad luck because of how things turned out. As she bluntly states throughout, her first husband got hit by a bus following two years of marriage. Though she makes it clear to her mother Rose that she doesn’t love her boyfriend of 7 years in Johnny, she likes him and does want to get married. In her mind, it’s not about love at this point in her life. She just wants to get married and settle down. Loretta knows Johnny is a sweet guy and could never harm her. Plus, he’s successful and has taken care of her for quite some time. Remember, he’s the only person Loretta has dated since her last marriage ended so abruptly. Naturally, the question to the audience is if she should go through with it because all signs point to how it doesn’t feel right. Early on, she doesn’t hesitate in telling her mother that she doesn’t love him, but you have to consider all the facts as to why Loretta is so willing.

Loretta is almost 40 and lives with her parents. This isn’t necessarily a problem as Rose wants Loretta and Johnny to live with them, but Cosmo’s dislike of Johnny complicates things. Considering their ethnic background as well, there is a constant pressure to get married, so this is more than likely a factor in Loretta’s excitement to go through with it and go all-out in potentially having a big wedding. In a perfect world, she should and would wait for the right man to come along. Following the opera where a real connection is made with Ronny, he points out how she waited for the right man the first time and questions why she won’t wait for the right man again, knowing very well that Johnny isn’t the right man for her. Simply put, it’s “because he didn’t come”. Ronny knows he is the one and tells her that he’s here to take this role, but she is short and sweet commenting, “You’re late!”. The risk is too much to bear. She can’t take the chance anymore because of where she’s at in life and is willing to make the safe bet because that’s what Johnny is, safe. This is the heart of the issue, as Ronny tells her a life lesson that many can relate to in that, “Playing it safe is the most dangerous thing a woman like you can do”. Love is a complex thing, as is the institution of marriage. It cannot be taken lightly. Picking someone because of security rather than love is not how things are supposed to play out, but Loretta struggles with the reality even if she has mixed emotions to the person she has agreed in principle to marry. What she and many need to realize is that your mind can be changed, luck can be changed, and failed decisions can be overcome. Otherwise, what good is this life God gave them, as the two discuss earnestly. Though he’s not the most eloquent person, Ronny poetically states, “The stars are perfect, not us. We are here to make mistakes”. We are here to “ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die”. Everyone wants the storybook ending, but a lot of times it just doesn’t happen that way. Loretta wants this fairytale wedding as would anyone, but her “storybook” road to love is that of a highway under construction. This is okay, but it’s hard to acknowledge when the easier path is seen in Johnny.

The seeds are planted in the first act. Again, she likes Johnny, but she doesn’t love him. Then, Ronny walks into her life, someone she didn’t know existed beforehand because Johnny never mentioned him. Even so, Johnny really wants Ronny to be at the wedding, despite their falling out. This is where the magic starts. As you would expect, Nicolas Cage does Nicolas Cage things (and that’s always a positive with me), twisting the movie on its head as soon as he’s introduced into the picture. His presence onscreen is hard to ignore, and the humor surrounding his character solidifies the film in our collective memory (“No, I want you to see this. I want you to watch me kill myself, so you can tell my brother Johnny on his wedding day”). Just like Cage himself, Ronny is wild, unpredictable, and a brooding and tormented figure that the eye can’t help but be drawn to because of his words and actions. There’s a sense of danger with Ronny, and he seems to revel in the idea of scaring people away from his world. His mindset is that he’s been wronged by Johnny and his former fiancé, and nothing can change the fact. Though it’s true that what happened to his hand can’t be undone and his woman isn’t coming back, he sees this connection with Loretta because she doesn’t want to hear the pity party he lives in every day and lets him know about it. When one has become so disillusioned with life, and you can’t blame Ronny considering what happened to him, the person in question has a tendency to bring everyone down with him. Even though they want to be happy and get over things, they struggle so much with it that they want to bring everyone down to their level and mood because they want everyone to understand how much misery they are going through. They want others to be just as miserable as them, and it’s still not good enough. No words or act of good will can solve the problem when you’re dealing with a personality like this, and it’s no one’s fault. Sometimes, someone does it subconsciously too rather than consciously, though it’s hard to say which one is more akin to Ronny’s thought process.

Usually, this person has to continuously explain why life sucks for them and why nothing can make them feel better. However, this is why someone like Loretta is different. Despite Ronny’s domineering presence and threats of killing himself, Loretta hears him out and responds bluntly, as she consistently does throughout the narrative. She’s confused at Ronny’s backstory and tells him straight-up that she doesn’t see how it’s Johnny’s fault that he lost his hand. Not hearing a rational argument to his story in years, Ronny just flips out and gives the real reason as to why he’s angry. Johnny has his hand and his bride, and Ronny has nothing. Now, he’s supposed to just forget about his heartbreak? With this, the blood feud between them is understood, but it’s Loretta’s reactions to Ronny’s real emotions rather than his on-the-surface erratic behavior that she’s able to feel something, staring at him with her emotional but understanding eyes. As he calms down in the silence speaking on losing out on his one dream of happiness, he exits the room. Loretta doesn’t owe Ronny anything, but she sees something in that moment. There is an attraction to his tormented heart, and she wants to get to know him further, as this outburst was more of a breakthrough to getting to his sought-after happiness than Ronny realizes. Ronny may have this dangerous aura to him, but that’s to the people that don’t know him personally. Once he reveals his true feelings in this outburst, we and Loretta can see that he’s not this violent brother ready to snap. He’s just a heartbroken man practically asking for help but doesn’t know how, as he’s shunned himself away from others for so long. This momentum is carried in their conversation in Ronny’s apartment, as Loretta continues to lay down the law with him. She’s honest in her responses to him and fearless in doing so, especially when you consider how little she’s interacted with him. To Ronny, it wins him over before he realizes it because no one close to him has spoken to him like that since the incident all those years ago, though it’s probably because he didn’t have anyone close since he hasn’t dated anyone since his fiancé left five years ago.

Loretta says he’s stupid for not realizing the reality of why things fell apart. Though losing his hand led to his fiancé leaving, it only played a small factor. The real reason is he subconsciously felt trapped in the relationship and let the “out” of losing his hand happen. It was almost an animalistic response within him that was willing to go that far to avoid the trap of fake love, and she can see he’s scared to death at what his mind will do if he makes the same mistake again with another woman. Again, he tries to react in anger and tells her to stop, but she refuses. The conversation switches to Ronny questioning why she would marry someone like Johnny. Still, she doesn’t mention love at all. She just states that she has no luck, and she is more accepting of her situation just so she can become a bride. As it can happen in real life, the tension reaches such a boiling point between two strong-willed, aggressive individuals, the passion creeps out and they can’t help but get intimate. Sometimes, the heart wants what it wants in that moment, and in these moments, real decisions are made. Even if they are misguided decisions from a viewing perspective, the reality is that humans make mistakes in the heat of passion, and Moonstruck knows this better than anybody. The hardened Johnny can’t help but fall in love with someone who not only can put up with his misery but be strong enough to throw it back at him. His situation is tough, but Loretta is the only person strong enough to point out that he’s not the only one who has problems and can’t project his gloomy outlook on everyone else. Once this clarity is reached in these honest conversations with Loretta, Ronny sees that his tunnel to true happiness is actually her. Now, Loretta knows she messed up. Johnny never deserved to be cheated on, and that’s why she has so much trouble with admitting her attraction to Ronny. The morning after, she is freaking out over what she did, while Ronny is the complete opposite and is calm and collected like we have never seen before in the film. Loretta continues to blame what happened on her “bad luck”, but we know this isn’t the real theme of the movie, as funny as it is.

Moonstruck is about being lovestruck in all of its individual forms.

In Loretta’s case, it’s about being lovestruck in the middle of her engagement to someone else and trying to figure out how to navigate through it in the least morally corrupt way possible, at least that’s how she perceives it. Everything in her head is telling her this is wrong and how she shouldn’t like Ronny, and he doesn’t really say anything to make her think otherwise. He admits he’s not in Palermo because his mother doesn’t like him, he tells her she has “bad eyes like a gypsy” and that’s why she has bad luck, and his general demeanor after they have sex is not of regret but rather doing the right thing. Even so, she wants them to take what happened to the grave, but what’s done can’t be undone. He’s in love with her and tells her right then and there. Loretta doesn’t want to hear it and the delivery of “Snap out of it!” following two slaps to the face is one of the most memorable moments of the decade. Despite all of this and the regret Loretta feels, there is a sliver of hope for this romance and the undeniable chemistry between the two. Ronny agrees to not come to the wedding now that she doesn’t want him to but only if Loretta agrees to come with him to the opera (“Where’s the Met?”). He loves only two things (her and the opera), and he wants those two things to come together in one night, as it would satisfy him enough to give up his life. She annoyingly agrees and goes straight to confession afterwards to admit her regret, while hilariously throwing it in the middle of her other admitted sins to the priest because she didn’t want to dwell on it. Though her guilt is real, the love is there and it’s impossible to bury it. Loretta deciding to get her hair and makeup done and looking immaculate for her “non-date” with Ronny doesn’t exactly look like someone who is trying to put an end to this potential relationship. It is seen when they share eye contact outside the opera. She looks down right after and smiles. She knows she’s looking beautiful for him. The sexual tension cannot be ignored. Loretta may not want it to on the surface, but she does deep down. She just wants to be married and that’s what’s holding her back. The love is with Ronny, no matter how hard she tries to deny it.

The heart of the story is about how the moon is a symbol of love being at its most bountiful. Raymond recalls a time where he saw Cosmo looking up at the windows of Rose’s home when he was young and chasing her and how the moon was brighter than it’s ever been that night, which is why it’s related to the fiery passion of love throughout the narrative. He refers to it as “Cosmo’s moon”. Despite this conversation evoking a strange and awkward response from Cosmo and Rose when it should be one of happiness, it is a good way to explain the title as well as a good portion of moments within the story. There’s a nice sequence where everything is understood a bit more in relation to this idea, with Loretta staring at “Cosmo’s moon” and Ronny holding her from behind while telling her how the moonlight makes her look like an angel, Rose looks at the moon somberly while Cosmo is asleep from drinking too much, and Raymond sees the large moon and it fuels him to be all over Rita to the point where he’s so chipper the next morning that Rita and Loretta are looking at him weird. Love is in the air, and Raymond gets a sixth sense because of it, correctly guessing that Loretta is going on a date, though she denies it to him because her cheating is supposed to be a secret. Still, this take on the moon, how it’s presented in explanation of certain elements of the narrative, and the characters inhabiting it, is a sweet, well-thought-out, and creative way to do so. In some respects, Moonstruck is Woody Allen-lite but lighter and less cynical, even with the infidelity involved. I wouldn’t call it wacky, but the core is less weighty in its presentation, which is why a scene like Loretta seeing Cosmo with Mona at the Met, and the two both chastising the other for cheating before both agreeing not to say anything is still very funny and doesn’t change our opinion on either character. If anything, it pushes us to love Rose’s storyline even more, with Olympia Dukakis churning out the best performance of her career.

Rose is right. Loretta is just like Cosmo in more ways than one. Loretta never admits anything to Rose about her cheating on Johnny, but she knows a hickey when she sees one, though she never lectures Loretta either. She’s a smart woman and is very aware of what’s going on, but she acts like she doesn’t. She can just tell her husband has a side piece, but her emotional intelligence and maturity is quite the sight to behold, as she wants to figure out the best course of action instead of acting out in emotion like our two main characters regularly do. Once she realizes what’s going on, she’s seen at church first. Being a religious, Italian-American woman, she looks to God to give her a sign. She doesn’t have to say it out loud for the viewer to understand this either. It’s just felt by her being there and her disappointed reaction to Loretta refusing her accusation towards Cosmo and following it up with Loretta not coming home for dinner. With this, Rose is lonely like never before. Later, she’s at the Italian restaurant by herself, which is where she runs into Perry, an older man with still a lot to learn about women. After she invites him over to eat with her following his young date Sheila throwing a drink in his face and leaving, they have a real conversation with each other, and they share a true bond in understanding where they are coming from. Rose does accept Perry walking her home, but she never intended on taking things a step further. A strong-willed woman, despite knowing Cosmo’s fooling around, she respectfully declines because she respects her marriage and adds that she’s too old for Perry, despite him being willing. He may be “freezing” and wanting her warmth, but she knows who she is and what she stands for and won’t compromise it for random emotions she might be feeling. With Loretta, she doesn’t know yet (“I’m freezing to death”), which is why she has to explore it, and it all comes together in the seamless, funny, and chaotic ending.

Along with Cage’s confusing accent, I didn’t like the role of the Old Man. Everything he said was vague, his scenes weren’t funny nor profound in anyway, and it only seemed to exist as a transition between the relevant characters while offering nothing of note to help the story or entertainment factor of the movie. Seriously, how much help is this guy trying to get his dogs to howl at the moon? What is the point of this character? No one in the family really talks to him, and he doesn’t seem that close with anyone, so much so that I didn’t know he was Cosmo’s father until the scene before the climax where he tells Cosmo to pay for Loretta’s wedding. Honestly, I would’ve gotten rid of the graveyard scene entirely too. What a waste of time that was. How can so much be said but nothing at all be said at the same time? Also, Cosmo saying aloud, “A man understands one day that his life is built on nothing, and that is a bad, crazy day”, and Rose rightfully responding with, “Your life is not built on nothing” is totally misplaced. That’s a conversation that needs to be explored more, but they bring it up in dramatic fashion late in the third act, they start speaking Italian, and the subject is changed once Raymond and Rita show up. There is no follow-up to it. If Cosmo is still in this mindset after the pivotal moment at the breakfast table between him and Rose, it takes away from the emotional impact of the scene because it makes it look like Cosmo still doesn’t get what the hell is going on and how important his role in the family is.

Though the philosophical question of “Why do men chase women?” is posed a few times by Rose, possibly to understand why Cosmo is cheating on her, she lands on the answer of men fearing death, especially when a man goes after more than one woman. When she asks Perry, he just talks about it from his perspective in that he likes when a young woman sees who he “wanted to be or once was”. This is a much more realistic answer, even if she may not want to hear it. Though all of this leads to the great one-liner from Rose to Cosmo after she gets what she perceives to be the right answer from Johnny (“I just want you to know. No matter what you do, you’re gonna die, just like everybody else”), I don’t see the answer of “fearing death” that is all that logical. Johnny’s lovely biblical suggestion of how God took a rib from Adam and made Eve and that men might chase women to get the rib back because there’s a hole there is a thousand times better. Think about it. The woman has this rib, and the man isn’t a complete without a woman. That might be the greatest explanation to love that has ever been said onscreen. The answer of “fearing death” is comedically a good choice, but Johnny’s answer is absolutely the right one. On that note, Danny Aiello surprised me with how well he played the bumbling, soft, and nervous husband-to-be. The ongoing joke of him being overdramatic and the luggage gag were gold. You’d never think in a million years this is the same guy from Do the Right Thing. Though I don’t see Johnny’s reasoning that leads to his final decision, I give it a pass because he’s such a goof. Plus, it made for a great ending.

The highly acclaimed Moonstruck is a top tier romantic comedy, evoking nostalgic feelings inside the viewer even if they are watching it for the first time. There’s an aura and heart to it that not many films can claim to have. Unconventional in story and style, it’s consistently amusing, benevolent, well-written, and powered with great performances, highlighted by an incredible Cher at arguably the most beautiful she’s ever looked. It’s loving, it’s well-intentioned, it’s chaotic, and it’s heartwarming. It’s easy to fall in love with a movie like this.