Moonstruck - I probably shouldn’t review this film

How much hate would I get if I said that ‘Moonstruck’ was a ‘chick flick’ or one that would most likely only be enjoyed by women?  Probably quite a lot.  I’m sure there are plenty of guys out there who also liked it.  Trouble is… I’m just not one of them.

I’ll start by saying that, if I had my way, I’d probably rate this the lowest score possible.  However, that’s probably a little unfair of me based on how many people regard this as a classic – like my girlfriend – who made me sit through it with her and would undoubtedly rate it the highest score possible.  Let me explain – we’re both massive fans of Nicholas Cage (even going so far as to watch his more recent output which does tend to leave a lot to be desired).  Therefore, I succumbed to sitting through this romantic comedy where Cher agrees to marry one brother, only to fall in love with the other one.  I think it’s safe to say that I prefer Nicholas Cage’s films where he’s either got his head on fire or stabbing himself in the heart with a needle while waving flares off the coast of San Francisco.

They call this a ‘romantic comedy.’ Yes, I could see the romance in there.  Even though it was painfully obvious to me what the outcome of the film would be.  However, I didn’t really see any comedy in there.  I seem to recall laughing out loud about once at about three quarters of the way through the film.  I would say that meant the story was completely unfunny if it wasn’t for the fact that my girlfriend was cracking up next to me pretty much the whole way through it.

She also enjoyed the way – her words – they ‘play on the Italian-American stereotype.’ If that means that the characters are complete clichés then I suppose that’s true.  Everyone (or rather mainly Nicholas Cage) turned their performance up to eleven and was so-over-the-top it was laughable (and that’s laughable in not a good way).  Everyone just spends the whole movie shouting noisily and making a drama over nothing.

Like I said, if you’ve seen one romantic comedy then you’ve probably seen this one.  There’s nothing new here, just louder.  However, just because I hated it, doesn’t mean that it’s not good.  I believe there were even Oscars thrown at the film for Cher’s (I think!) performance.  If you’re into this type of film then you’ll probably love it.  However, if you prefer your leading man running in slow motion away from exploding barrels then as opposed to dressing up in a suit and asking a woman to the opera, then you should probably stick to ‘Face Off’ (at least now it’s my turn to pick the film we watch (most likely something with a title that ends ‘…of the Living Dead’).

I’ll give ‘Moonstruck’ a ‘mid-range’ final score, simply because I should never have watched it to begin with and feel bad for rating something that so clearly has an audience so low (plus my girlfriend will not approve!).

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back (especially for a guy!)