Ep 24: Moonstruck

Sci-fi romance author CJ Barry joins Lucy and Jenny for Moonstruck, a wonderful romantic comedy with wonderful dialogue. “And someday, you’ll drop dead and I’ll come to your funeral in a red dress!” Yeah, it doesn’t get better than that. Get the podcast: Listen here at PopD | Go to iTunes

Story Analysis & Ratings:

Lucy says: 5 Pops ~ Lucy’s rating breakdown: Structure: 5, Comedy: 5, Romance: 5

Jenny says: 5 Pops ~ Lucy’s rating breakdown: Structure: 5, Comedy: 5, Romance: 5

C. J. says: 5 Pops ~ Lucy’s rating breakdown: Structure: 5, Comedy: 5, Romance: 5

Blog Poll Rating: TBD

Movie Info:

Release Date: Dec. 18, 1987 Director: Norman Jewison Writers: John Patrick Shanley. More info at IMDb.

Jenny

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4 responses to “Ep 24: Moonstruck”

  1. This was the first time I watched the movie. Saturday night my husband and I discussed it and we think it isn’t a romantic comedy. It’s a drama with a message about marriage. If I didn’t give it the rating as not a romantic comedy, it would only get two pops from me.

    The parts we enjoyed, grandpa and his dogs and some of Rose’s lines which are great lines and you chuckle because she delivers them so well and the point is counter to what you’re expecting, but I don’t think it is truly funny. The only time we laughed out loud was when the grandfather returned with the dogs from a walk and the dogs ran upstairs and the 2nd dog in the pack kind of slipped and ran into the stairs. After seeing he was alright and not hurt, there was a good snort and giggle moment.

    As for the romance, the monologue that Nick Cage gave to get Cher into bed the 2nd time was complete nonsense and I so wished she had had as much strength as her mother. I saw on twitter that the same speech swayed many of those watching. I totally don’t understand why. The grand gesture of him willing to give up eternity in heaven just so he could be with her is rather grand but the fact that he doesn’t care enough about her and her eternity that he wants to have her condemned to hell too, well that’s less romantic. Remember, she’s a committed Catholic and hell is real here.

    Also, I don’t get Jenny’s hatred of the older brother. He’s a putz and a wimp but all he gets in the end is he lost his ring temporarily. He wants to break off the wedding at the end so the fact that she does too and was sleeping with his brother probably brings him relief.

    The money was something that I thought would turn out to be more than her simply forgetting to make a deposit.

    I haven’t listened to the podcast yet to understand why all of you gave it 5 pops for everything, but I’ll admit, I think it might be sentimentality. I love Better Off Dead but after watching it again, it isn’t as great as I remembered, but I will still defend it to be wonderful.

  2. You know, the most important thing I’ve learned about writing stories is that if the story you’re reading/watching is not your kind of story, it doesn’t matter how good it is, it’s not going to work for you. I definitely feel this way about Moby Dick. Lani loves The Mad Miss Manton and hates A New Leaf. I loathed The Mad Miss Manton and adore A New Leaf. Sometimes you just have to say, “It’s not for me,” and move on. Which is what Lani and I did with A New Leaf and The Mad Miss Manton, respectively.

  3. This really is good movie despite my dislike of some of the actors. The writing is phenomenal and the work put into it is remarkable. Some of the snippets – like the dad doing his spiel about copper pipe – might have been able to be done elsewhere without it being a total cutaway but truly that’s not too bad in the grand scheme of things. We got to see him in his world, which was important, and we’ve certainly seen worse in other shows.

    I think y’all really hit on this in the podcast that romantic comedy doesn’t have to mean fluffy and brainless – unlike what Netflix seems to think in their basic categorization. This is a rich movie. It’s been simmering on the storve for a while and the flavors are very well developed. And thanks to PopD I watched it again for the first time in probably 15 years.