Moonstruck 1987, Rated PG-13 MGM Home Entertainment

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Starring Cher, Nicholas Cage.

There are films like The Truth About Cats and Dogs that are on one end of the romantic movie spectrum that are almost all fluff; relationships are dealt with as the pinnacle of modern existence, if you're not in a relationship you should feel like a failure. And there are films like When a Man Loves a Woman that are on the far other end of the romantic movie spectrum which, while well-written and acted, can occasionally come over as melodramatic and sappy.

Much to my pleasure, Moonstruck, ala When Harry Met Sally..., strikes a middle ground and steadfastly refuses to fall into the stupid or sappy romantic genre. The main story line is simple: Cher, a 37 year old widow who lives with her parents, agrees to marry a mama's boy, played with an amusing wishy-washiness by Danny Aiello. While preparing for their wedding, Cher meets and falls in love with Aiello's brother Ronnie, played by Nicholas Cage. However, John Patrick Shanley's script is not as cut and dried as it might seem. While Cher and Cage are out on the sly, they run into Cher's father, who, as Cher so wonderfully phrased it, is with a woman who isn't her mother.

The acting performances of the leads are humorously solid. Cher won an Oscar for her performance as Loretta, and Cage has such a knack for finding roles--or just making his characters jump off the screen--that it comes as no surprise when Cage's Ronnie Cammarari came alive with a vibrant, bitter energy.

But despite the well intentioned and acted efforts of the leads though, this film was stolen by the supporting actors, Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis, who also won an Oscar for her role. Gardenia and Dukakis play Cher's parents and, like everyone's real parents, Gardenia and Dukakis have their own quirks, eccentricities and strange beliefs that they carry with them through the film. As Moonstruck draws to a close, Dukakis and Gardenia are eating breakfast, and Dukakis asks Gardenia to stop seeing his other woman. Gardenia slowly rises from his chair, glares at Dukakis, slaps the table with both hands, and sits back down again.

It's little gestures like these that the actors bother to put into their characters, that adds to the humor and charm of this movie. Oak Park's own John Mahoney turns in a jocular performance as the college professor who repeatedly ends his dinner dates wearing his dates' beverages.

I'm not sure how a screenwriter named John Patrick Shanley has so beautifully and eloquantly captured the philsophies and ways of life of an Italian family living in Brooklyn, but he has. Helped along by David Watkin's soundtrack (think of the music during an Olive Garden or Ragu commercial), Moonstruck is one of the most enchanting and agreeable romantic comedies I've seen in some time. But please, there should be no fighting for this film, because as a wise man once said, people should Cher and Cher alike...