From the moment the first lines of “That’s Amore” are plucked out during the opening тιтles of Moonstruck, you know exactly what you’re in for. For those who’ve never seen the film, the fact that Cher lent her star power to the project might give you the wrong impression. Moonstruck isn’t flashy or slapstick, though it’s one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. It’s intimate and romantic amid the humor, the kind of romance film contemporary audiences have been starved of for years. Norman Jewison’s direction is timeless and unobtrusive, letting the script and the actors speak for themselves.
Released two years before the landmark rom-com When Harry Met Sally premiered, Moonstruck paved the way for projects like this. Set in a version of New York that doesn’t exist anymore, rooted in Italian American culture with genuine love and respect for it, Moonstruck thrives on the uniqueness of the characters’ experiences, allowing the universal aspects of these to emerge naturally. Calling Moonstruck a slice-of-life romance or even a romantic comedy isn’t quite right, though it could be called both. However, there’s more to this movie than either of those monikers can capture.
Moonstruck’s Incredible Cast Elevates the Movie To New Heights
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Starring Cher and Nicolas Cage as Loretta and Ronny, the widow who’s recently gotten engaged and her fiancé’s brother, respectively, Moonstruck gently entangles the love stories of Loretta and her family. Though Moonstruck never struggles to make you care about all the members of Loretta’s family, their brief indiscretions, and their fear of growing old, the chemistry between Cher and Cage knocks you out. However, before I get too swept away by the sentimentality of the story, it’s important to mention that it’s because of the cast’s comedic chops that the tone is struck so perfectly.
From Cage’s delivery of his monologue about losing his hand, eternally quotable as it is, to the ᴅᴇᴀᴅpan line reads of the supporting cast that capture the absurdity of having a family, every hilarious beat is hit. If there’s any aspect of Moonstruck that I struggle to believe, it’s that for even a single second I’m expected to act like Cher isn’t the most beautiful woman in the world. However, Moonstruck doesn’t really ask me to do that, just to forget that she’s Cher for a while, and the actress pulls out all the stops to let me do just that.
Moonstruck is about falling in love again, whether that’s with someone new or the person your partner’s become after decades together.
Of course, it’s no secret that Olympia Dukakis, as Loretta’s mother Rose, is the scene-stealing secret star of the entire film. Both she and Cher won for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, and though questions have been raised about whether Cher deserved the honor, Dukakis certainly did. The young Cage we see in Moonstruck is just as capable of being hammy as the actor today, but there’s something unselfconscious about the way he gives himself to the role of Ronny. The heightened reality of Moonstruck allows his intensely earnest declarations of love to come off as believable.
Moonstruck is about falling in love again, whether that’s with someone new or the person your partner’s become after decades together. There’s a moment early on in the film when Loretta’s uncle, Raymond (Louis Guss), is staring out the window at the moon, and his wife, Rita (Julie Bovᴀsso), says that he looks just like he did when he was 25. It’s a small scene, easy to forget about, but to me, it’s what the movie is about. A good romance movie shows there’s room for every type of love in the story, and Moonstruck knows this all too well.
Moonstruck Is A Breath Of Fresh Air Compared To Today’s Rom-Coms
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Perhaps it’s cynical or unfair to write off the contemporary rom-com, but watching Moonstruck reminds me that I should have high expectations for the genre. There was a time when romantic comedies won Oscars. Now, they’re churned out as cheaply and quickly as the next useless piece of technology. It’s not a perfect metaphor, but I want to watch films that are made to stand the test of time, not thrown away as soon as something newer comes along. I want to know when we stopped making movies like Moonstruck and why.
The cohesion of the production design, the classic soundtrack and scoring, and even the overtly 1980s styling are more than just nostalgic; they’re what sucks you into the story. Though Moonstruck is aimed at an older demographic than most romance movies, there’s something in the story for every generation. It’s easy to write a rave review for Moonstruck. There are more iconic elements in the movie than there is time to write about them. If I ever get tired of watching Moonstruck, it will probably be because something better finally came along.
Moonstruck re-released in theaters on March 12.
