Mubi Monday: Moonstruck (1987)

Lots of movies have been made that show romance in an ideal form. Oh, things might be messy for a while, but behind the mess we can see the perfect match just waiting to happen. Moonstruck doesn't do that. It has two people being enjoyably far from ideal, within themselves and with one another. But it also has some points to make about love, passion, and commitment.

Cher plays Loretta Castorini, a New York woman who believes that she invited bad luck into her life when she first married, bad luck that would lead to her husband being killed by a bus. That's why she wants everything to be just perfect when her boyfriend, Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello), proposes to her. She is excited to then tell her mother (Olympia Dukakis) and father (Vincent Gardenia), but has to tell them without Johnny present, as he has flown to Italy to be at the bedside of his dying mother. Johnny is happy to leave the wedding arrangements to Loretta, but he insists that she contact his brother (Ronny, played by Nicolas Cage) and offer him an invite. That maybe wasn't his best idea, considering how instantly Loretta and Ronny sense a connection between them.

The second feature to be made from a screenplay by John Patrick Shanley, Moonstruck has a pleasingly offbeat vibe throughout, yet still feels as if it's more than willing to hit all of the familiar beats to be found in most of the traditional rom-coms. Maybe that comes from the fact that it's Norman Jewison directing, an old hand who can easily handle the material and the wonderful cast asked to work with it. And this IS a wonderful cast.

Cher gives one of her most grounded and wonderful performances. I've often enjoyed her in movies, but there's a huge difference between the roles she took on in the 1980s and the roles she has taken on throughout the past couple of decades (which have all brought attention to the fact that she's CHER, as opposed to someone "normal" aka non-Cher). The same cannot really be said about Nic Cage, who has simply done his Nic Cage thing onscreen for about fifty years now. It can either work really well or fail horribly, but this is very much a case of the former. He's very funny, very sweet, and very fired up in a way that amuses, but ultimately also attracts, the woman he falls in love with. Aiello isn't onscreen for too long, and has to maintain an air of confusion and bumbling awkwardness, but he does well with a tricky role. Both Dukakis and Gardenia are superb, and the former really lights up in a sequence that allows her to temporarily enjoy the company of John Mahoney, who gets his own spark while spending time with someone being so refreshingly honest, and unimpressed by him.

There's some fine music used sparingly throughout, a lovely score from Dick Hyman, and that wonderful 1980s New York texture in every scene, assisted by a supporting cast that includes Julia Bovasso, Louis Guss, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Leonardo Cimino, and a cameoing Catherine Scorsese. There's also at least one bit of dialogue that deserves to be as remembered and repeated as any other great soundbites from the history of cinema.

The messiness and the strange tone may put many people off. It's the main reason I enjoyed it so much though. Love and passion can be very messy, and that messiness can be a wonderful thing. Moonstruck is a bit wonderful.

8/10

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Look Who's Talking Now! (1993)

After the disappointing second movie in this short series, I was not looking forward to Look Who's Talking Now! Surely the fact that the film was about to focus on a pair of dogs didn't bode well. But those dogs being voiced by Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton was a small plus point.

Anyway, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley return as James and Mollie Ubriacco, the married couple bringing up two children together, Mikey (David Gallagher) and the younger Julie (Tabitha Lupien). James is encouraged to make a better career move, which he does, becoming the main pilot who flies a woman named Samantha (Lysette Anthony) to her various meetings. Samantha seems to take quite a shine to James. It's not long until there is strain in the Ubriacco marriage once again, a situation made slightly more fraught when the household also ends up with two dogs, one very well-behaved and "posh" (voiced by Diane Keaton), the other lovely and seemingly averse to any training (voiced by Danny DeVito).

Look, this is not going to top any list of best movies ever made, it's not really that well put together (especially with the annoying dream sequences that punctuate the storyline every so often), but it's perfectly fine entertainment for anyone who enjoyed the first movie, and who also happens to love dogs.

Travolta and Alley work even better together here than in the previous two movies. They feel more like a natural couple, two people who are closer than ever before after going through some major ups and downs. Gallagher and Lupien are both okay in their roles, I guess, although Gallagher fares better, being the older child and having a bit more of an idea of what he is doing in front of the camera. Anthony does well as the successful businesswoman who takes an interest in her married employee, and there are one or two scenes that allow Olympia Dukakis and George Segal to return for what are basically cameo appearances. As for the voices of the dogs, the wrong cast members would make this a tougher watch, but DeVito and Keaton work well as the canine additions to the family.

The second, and last (to date), feature film from director Tom Ropelewski (who had previously written and directed Madhouse, another Kirstie Alley vehicle), he may not have the good qualities of Amy Heckerling, but he also avoids the excessive nonsense that marred her own second time round with the material. The script, co-written by Ropelewski and Leslie Dixon, usually works well enough for this kind of thing. There are no big laughs, but there are a number of little moments that should have you smiling enough until the dogs come along to steal a few scenes.

If you saw the first two then you may as well see this one. It's not as good as the first film, but it's a step up from the dire second. I'll end this review with that ringing endorsement.

5/10

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Look Who's Talking (1989)

I was about thirteen or fourteen when I first saw Look Who's Talking, which is just about the perfect age. This is a family film, but it's from a time when you could start and end such things with footage of sperm swimming merrily on their way to tray and fertilise an egg. I was old enough to realise what I was seeing, realise that this was the result of *gasp* sex, and appreciated every time the film gave me a scene that presented a mix of simple guffaws and some mildly risqué humour.   

Written and directed by Amy Heckerling, this is best summed up as the comedy about that baby voiced by Bruce Willis. That's all there is to it, basically, but it also has so much more. Kirstie Alley, who doesn't get nearly enough credit for her enjoyable comedic ability, is the Mollie, woman who gets pregnant by her married lover (George Segal, playing an amusingly selfish and obnoxious ass), and then finds her life intersecting with the taxi driver, James (John Travolta), who ends up speedily driving her to the hospital and helping as much as he can during the delivery of baby Mikey (aka voice of Bruce Willis).

There are a number of factors here that help to keep Look Who's Talking almost as much fun today as it was when it was first released, despite the dubious "the best thing I can do for my baby is find him a worthy father" motivation of the central character.

First of all, the cast are all great. Pulp Fiction may have been the more solid resurrection of John Travolta's career, but this role makes better use of his particular mix of charisma and his cheeky, rugged charm. He's always done well at roles that show up his flaws, often as he tries to put on a front in front of others, and this is no exception, although his flaws are largely only flaws in the eyes of a woman who is being a bit too critical and judgemental. Alley is a lot of fun, whether she's suffering the symptoms of pregnancy, being fed line after ridiculous line by Segal, checking out how much her own breasts have swelled, or just being worn down by a baby that has figured out crying gets him fed. Some of the line delivery from Willis isn't as good as I can imagine it being from some others who were considered for the role (Steve Martin, Robin Williams, etc) but his smirky sassiness generally suits the script. Segal is ridiculous and fun, Olympia Dukakis is an over the top movie mom, and Abe Vigoda gets a couple of nice moments in his role as the grandfather of Travolta's character.

Second, the writing and direction from Heckerling are just what you want for this material. She takes the concept, makes a lot of the obvious gags (that still raise a chuckle), and expertly keeps everything moving along nicely for the perfect popcorn movie runtime of just about 90 minutes (IMDb has it listed at 93 minutes, the main point is that this film starts, entertains you for the duration, and ends before overstaying its welcome). Although coming hot on the heels of a number of other movies from this time focusing on the joys/perils of sudden parenthood (e.g Baby Boom, She's Having A Baby, Three Men & A Baby, and, well, Parenthood), this doesn't feel like a cash-in on the trend. Heckerling was inspired to make the movie by her own experiences with parenting, including the way her husband would make up a voice as he pretended to relay what their child might want to say, and that inspiration takes this on a different path from those other movies, even if there is some crossover. Point me towards any comedic look at parenthood and I will eat my hat if there's not a scene in which a parent at one point has to deal with a stinky nappy.

Third, and connected to the previous point, the high concept here is centred in something that all parents can identify with, whether it's wanting to know what your baby is desperate to communicate with you, being worn out at the end of a long day, or even trying to arrange date nights around the schedule of a little one you cannot just entrust to the care of any babysitter.

There's also a decent selection of hits on the soundtrack, a few good nods to Travolta's past, and special effects showing Mikey in utero that hold up surprisingly well. I think people, for a variety of reasons, like to dismiss some of the hit films of years gone by, viewing them as something they enjoyed at the time but not worth revisiting. Look Who's Talking is still worth your time, even if it is perhaps not quite as sophisticated or smart as it could have been. It isn't aiming for that. It just wants to entertain, and make you laugh. It succeeds.

7/10

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The Christmas Spirit (2013)

If I'd known beforehand that this was based on a story idea by star Nicollette Sheridan then I may have been hesitant to give it my time. Not that I have anything personal against Sheridan. I don't know her. I can't, off the top of my head, think of anything that I've seen her in (although I am well aware of her success as part of the Desperate Housewives group). It's just never a good sign when someone attempts to give their acting career a kickstart with a movie that springs from their own imagination. It can often lead to unenjoyable ego trips. Prime examples being almost every Steven Seagal movie from the past two decades.

Anyway, let me get to the movie. Sheridan plays a woman named Charlotte Hart. Bart Johnson plays a man named Daniel Huntslar. The two of them meet, get along, and then find themselves on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to light that Huntslar is looking to buy up a lot of businesses in the area, in order to make a lot of money. Charlotte doesn't think that the offer on the table will make up for the potential negative impact on the lives of the many residents. But when one crashes their car into the other, the bickering comes to a temporary halt as they find themselves wandering aroung as spirits. They move around town, sometimes working together to help out the residents and sometimes working to either help (Daniel) or hinder (Charlotte) the potential sale.

Although I wouldn't say that this is actually a terrible film, considering the KIND of film it is setting out to be, it just ends up so horribly uninteresting, and slightly smug, that it's hard to care about anyone onscreen. Director Jack Angelo, who also developed Sheridan's story idea, seems to know that something good could be made here, but either loses interest or just didn't have the resources to make it the best that it could be.

Sheridan is fine, I guess, in her role. I'm not going to rush away to watch all of those Desperate Housewives episodes, but I'm also not rushing away to craft a voodoo doll in her likeness. Johnson is a good match as her male co-star. You can imagine the two of them being a horrible, vomit-inducing, power couple. Mind you, it is the season for such bouts of nausea. Olympia Dukakis is the biggest name in the cast list, from what I can see, and she does a good job with her few scenes, playing an old woman who can see our lead characters, even when they've transformed into spirits. Sammi Hanratty and Tristan Leabu do well as Charlotte's niece and nephew, respectively. Amanda Foreman is required to look harried, yet also emotionally strong, and she does that fine.

Oh, I forgot to mention everyone else coming onscreen long enough to wonder at events occurring, receive messages from people who couldn't possibly send messages, and accept a few other things that have no rational explanation. Christmas is the time to believe in the unbelievable - that's something you might say. You'd be right, but it still doesn't help make movies like this feel any less slapdash and lazy.

The Christmas Spirit is below average, and that's the bottom line. It could have done enough to become average, but that wasn't to be. Yet another one that you can tolerate in the background while wrapping up the presents and/or decorating the tree, although even then you may end up changing the channel.

3/10

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