Customer Reviews

Serious Moonlight

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

It's been a full two decades since Meg Ryan emerged from a series of background girlfriend roles to become America's Sweetheart in 1989's When Harry Met Sally..., but in this strangely conceived 2009 comedy, she still has that undeniable twinkle in spite of all the age-defying cosmetic alterations to her face. The screenplay is the last work of the late actress Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed, and co-starred in 2007's agreeably idiosyncratic Waitress, and what they have in common is her supple dexterity in balancing the off-kilter elements of her stories into something deeper. This time, she takes a darker, less whimsical path in exposing the insidious nature of a marriage that has dissipated from a lack of communication. Her "Waitress" co-star Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) takes the helm in her directorial debut, and her lack of experience may attribute to the fact that it feels more like a filmed stage play despite Nancy Schreiber's expert cinematography.

The brief story focuses on married couple, Louise and Ian, on a day when they unexpectedly cross paths at their bucolic vacation home. A high-powered fortyish attorney, she comes home to find her house showered romantically with rose petals and Ian writing a Dear Jane letter to her. He has decided after thirteen years of marriage that he wants a divorce, so he can rendezvous with his 24-year-old girlfriend Sarah in Paris. Unwilling to accept that her marriage has gone kaput, Louise inadvertently knocks him out with a flower pot and takes advantage of his unconsciousness in order to duct tape him to a chair until he relents. This is the beginning of a roundelay in which they spar about the merits of their marriage. Ian spends most of the 84-minute running time stuck on the toilet as he faces one humiliation after another. Even though Louise exhibits vaguely sociopathic behavior, she does not represent the only threat to Ian.

There is a nasty twist to the story in the form of an interloper that turns their vituperative cat-and-mouse game into a game of survival. The open ending doesn't quite satisfy, although the implications that it raises lends texture to what has gone on before. Ryan acquits herself well as Louise, and although it's not remarkable work, it shows that the actress could thrive into middle-age with her fizzy spirit intact. She manages to give heart to the tenacious hold her character has on her flailing marriage. In a welcome big-screen return as Ian, Timothy Hutton does what he can under a lot of duct tape in a mostly passive role with moments of vented exasperation, while Kristin Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) shows surprising grit as Sarah, especially toward the end when the women grapple on the bathroom floor. Justin Long provides a menacing edge to the smallish role of the lawn-mowing low-life. More than Hines' workmanlike direction, Shelly's somewhat uneven screenplay offers enough dark elements to make the contrived set-up worth accepting for the sake of the unfolding story she wanted to tell.

This is an interesting and fun movie. I love watching both Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton so my review is a bit biased. The acting is good from both actors and seeing Meg Ryan play a psycho in the beginning is worth it. If you've seen the movie French Kiss with Ryan and Hutton you can imagine what could have happened if she had not meet Luke (Kevin Kline's character). Interestingly enough her character in this movie is not all that different. The plot and story is not something new. It reminds me of The Ref like another reviewer said. It's not the best performances from either actor and Hutton's new show (Leverage is a good example of what he can do).
The problem with this type of movie is that it tries to be a comedy but the themes are sad and too strong and overtakes the comedy. I dives into the emotional states of the characters then jumps to a comedic point. In that sense its not that great a movie. But if you like watching these actors and don't mind a story that's a little tired you'll have a good time. One more thing, Ryan has uncanny accuracy with flower pots!

In this story of a marriage on the skids between Louise (Meg Ryan), a high-powered Manhattan attorney, and her husband of thirteen years, Ian (Timothy Hutton), a strange and dark episode unfolds and halts Ian's plans to run away with his girlfriend Sarah (Kristen Bell).

It all takes a turn when Ian announces his plans to leave her, and Louise reacts by deciding to hold him captive until they can work on their marriage.

Then she goes out to run some errands, and when she returns, she finds that a gardener has stolen most of their belongings, and when he sees Louise, he also ties her up. Soon they are joined by the girlfriend, who is wondering why Ian didn't meet her at the airport--and you guessed it, she ends up with duct tape as well.

What happens next turns this very dark comedy on its ear. Do you think that the warring spouses will make up? Will we find out that something quite unexpected has been going on?

I know I was stunned by the ending to Serious Moonlight (Widescreen)...and that's all I'm saying about it.

Five stars.

[Anyone who dislikes this movie - I'm guessing you've never been married. You just don't get it!] I'm in my late 30's, and have been married 6 years, to a wonderful man. I really enjoyed Serious Moonlight. I could relate to it, and where the wife was coming from. Upset at your husband? No need to yell, scream, holler, get revenge. Instead... grab the duct tape! Serious Moonlight was different. Creative. Unexpected.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
One of Meg Ryan's best and Timothy's too.
I recommend it highly for couples.

I don't think I even realized the connection before the last seconds of the movie. Basically the movie is about the marriage trials experienced by a wife with a hi-power job (Meg) and a middle-of-the-road husband (Timothy). They live outside city limits and become involved in mild-moderate domestic violence. Even when things have gone wrong, they still go wronger, lol.
Maybe I was distracted or maybe I'm not that bright. I really wish I could give you a spoiler but I don't want to ruin it or make the movie not worth watching for you, the reader.

For about 80% of the movie I thought I was wasting my time. The acting was quite good, the dialog was meaningful and concise but the characters just didn't interest me... and I was tired of Meg Ryan's character. But the twisted ending made it worth it and actually makes her character more interesting in retrospect. In my opinion, the movie went from 2 stars to 4 stars in the last 5 minutes... I recommend that you don't skip a single scene getting there.

I've enjoyed Timothy Hutton's acting for decades and I've also come to really enjoy Meg Ryan's work. How Louise handles things is definitely bizarre, but it is funny and Meg Ryan has some great lines as soon as she takes control of what's turning her world upside down. I thought the partying scene that went on with the uninvited was a bit overkill; it didn't add much to the movie and got a bit taxing. But, considering the outcome of the story - all in all, I liked this film and I'd watch it again.

"Why did you ever love me?" Louise asks her husband, Ian. Ian was in the midst of leaving his wife for his girlfriend Sarah until Louise comes home from work and stops him. Louise devises an intervention to get her husband back. She holds him hostage in the restroom while showing him an array of wedding clips. The dialogue between the strained couple is very truthful, which I'm sure most couples can relate to. The lawnmower man came into the house while Louise was in the kitchen and proceeded to rob the place. Sara the younger other woman comes in during the fiasco and gets the privilege of getting duct taped. There certainly was lot of tension when Sara comes in to find Louise sitting on Ian's lap. I enjoyed the brief moments where the gold fish was shown in between moments. Then it dies when the bowl is knocked over. It is a sign of a broken bond. I liked Justin Long's performance here. It's the best I've seen from him. His character, the robber, made a lot of sense too. His theory: A husband promises a woman to love her for life. When the husband fails to do that he is indeed a failure. All in all, men cheat because of something inside themselves they are not satisfied with. It's very easy for men to move on with their "rational" sense of thinking. Although, I think if a couple was together for as long as Ian and Louise, they should recall the point as to why they married in the first place, especially at that age. Anyhow, it was a perfect setup on Louise's part and she got what she wanted from the foo. Perfect mix of humor and darkness. Good film over all.

I had real reservations about this DVD based on the write-up, but Meg Ryan carried it over as I was picking out three DVDs to keep me company on an editing marathon.

BE PATIENT with the beginning. Despite Meg Ryan (doing very well playing a stressed out robot lawyer), I almost lost patience and moved on.

On balance the movie is fun, provokes thought, and it has an absolutely killer ending that makes the whole thing totally worth watching from beginning to end, and leaves me chuckling with appreciation for Meg Ryan the actress and Meg Ryan the character as played in the film.

Other DVDs that might be enjoyed:
Non-Muscials
The American President
Meet Joe Black
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Something's Gotta Give
Maid in Manhattan
Spanglish

Musicals
Beyond the Sea : Widescreen Edition
Bride and Prejudice
De-Lovely: The Cole Porter Story
Walk the Line

When she is informed by her husband of thirteen years that he is leaving her for another woman, Louise does what every self-respecting woman in her position would do: she conks him over the head, duct-tapes him to a chair, and threatens to hold him prisoner till he comes to his senses. Thus, for an hour-and-a-half, we're forced to watch as two self-indulgent crybabies - one a cheat, the other a raving psychotic - thrash out the details of their relationship in a tone so grating and mean-spirited that before long we're ready to send in our own hostage-negotiating team just to bring an end to all of our suffering.

Despite the presence of Meg Ryan, Tim Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long in key roles, "Serious Moonlight," directed by Cheryl Hines and written by the late Adrienne Shelly (both of "Waitress" fame), is a hopelessly contrived, endlessly off-putting dark romantic comedy (a la "The War of the Roses," albeit without the courage of that film's ending) that, I guess, is supposed to be every cheated-on spouse's idea of the perfect wish-fulfillment revenge fantasy (even if the fantasy winds up going awry in the end). But the claustrophobic setting, the sadistic tone, and the sheer unpleasantness of it all make it an excruciating experience to sit through. At one point, Hutton seems to be speaking for the audience when he states, "It's like torture." That's about as astute an example of built-in self-criticism as I've ever come across in a movie.