150 Word Review: 'Moonstruck' (1987)

Love, Brooklyn-style

Photo: MGM/UA

When Cher's dowdy widow Loretta tells her philandering penny-pinching dad, played by cranky Vincent Gardenia, that she's engaged to marry a nice dull man, champagne is poured, and sugar cubes are dropped in each glass for good luck. Director Norman Jewison's 1987 romantic comedy Moonstruck is also like a flute of sparkling wine with one lump: dry but bubbly, acidic but sweet. This is a big-hearted movie about sex, death, family, and copper pipes.

It won three Oscars: one for playwright John Patrick Shanley's poetic, droll screenplay, one for Olympia Dukakis' supporting turn as a world-weary mom, and one for Cher, best actress. Nic Cage is a hot brick oven as the opera-loving brother of Loretta's betrothed. He is a wolf without a foot, she a bride without a head. What does that mean? I don't wana talk about it. There are plenty of Italian stereotypes, but whaddaya gonna do.

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