Margaux and I take a break from bad movies to watch a stone-cold classic, Moonstruck.
Trevor: I think a good way to gain an understanding of Nicolas Cage is to watch Moonstruck right after watching something like Next. Yes, he’s crazy, and makes questionable if not outright awful choices, but it’s nice to get a reminder that Cage (when he wants to be) is a really good actor.
Margaux: What’s crazier is that right after Moonstruck he made Vampire’s Kiss, which is arguably the most Cage-ian of Cage movies. If we could get into his thought process of how and why he felt like immediately coming off a critically acclaimed movie was the perfect time to in his career to turn around and star in a movie where he famously made his assistant scavenge Central Park for a REAL BAT to bite him.
Trevor: Is there any living actor who needs to write an autobiography more than Cage does?
Margaux: I’d certainly get a bigger kick out of his memoir than I would Anna Kendrick’s.
Trevor: Hopefully it would be just as confounding, obfuscatory, and ultimately compelling as Bob Dylan’s Chronicles.
Anyway, let’s get to Moonstruck. You told me (literally minutes ago) that the movie doesn’t really come alive until Cage shows up, and while I agree with that, I still think Cher is wonderful in this. Not only does she look gorgeous, but she’s convincingly working-class (no small feat for a diva of her caliber), but she’s funny, smart, brassy, and commands the screen. That’s due, I think, to the Oscar-winning script by John Patrick Shanley (who would later win a Pulitzer for his play Doubt, fun fact). I know we’re here to talk about Cage, but I just wanted to make sure we didn’t gloss over Cher, who took home a well-deserved Best Actress trophy for playing Loretta.
Margaux: I don’t think the words Doubt and fun fact are often said in tandem like that. But I digress, Cher’s performance in Moonstruck is the glue that holds this movie together, but also like you said, it’s not too much to hold together when you have Shanley’s wonderful script. Although it’s very heavy on the Catholic misogyny, it is not uncommon in traditional Italian (or anyone raised with the Catholic faith) homes. I love Loretta because she is unapologetic about her needs and wants, she never complains or explains. I think a lot of modern-day singer divas hold her performance as the ultimate wish fulfillment, she disappears in the role and it won her an Oscar, but there really is only one Moonstruck and one Loretta. I’ve always loved the love story in Moonstruck because it is unfussy and feels very realistic. Minus all the business about moon, but it you’d be hard pressed not to hear one of your friends mention “Mercury in retrograde” nowadays, so it’s actually not that far fetched at all.
Trevor: What I love about the script is its operatic structure, which is well-suited to the story Shanley wants to tell. (Director Norman Jewison did a great job, but in my estimation this is Shanley’s film.) People in this movie feel deeply, passionately, and immediately. You can see this in one of my favorite scenes, when Loretta meets Ronny (Cage) for the first time, and he goes from yelling “I lost my hand! I lost my bride!” to demanding “the big knife” so he can cut his throat in front of Loretta. Even the declaration of love by his assistant Chrissy (who never appears outside of this scene) is straight out of an opera. I love it. This is why it’s hard to write about good movies; I can only say “I love it” so many times, then just list off scenes that prove my point.
Margaux: If the words “you’ve got bad eyes, like a gypsy” aren’t Cage’s tombstone, someone royally fucked up. I do love how…dramatically everyone feels at all time, mainly Cage’s Ronny. It is hard to picture him and Danny Aiello as brothers, but Cher falling for and eventually becoming engaged to these brothers has this classic Hollywood movie feel to it that keeps it from weird or creepy. Probably because everything becomes so much more heightened as soon as we meet Ronny, and why I think the movie doesn’t really “start” till he shows up. That’s extremely impressive considering that Moonstruck was only a couple years into Cage’s acting career, he commands all attention partly because his character is slightly unhinged and you don’t know what he’ll do next, and also because there’s something the chemistry between Cher and Cage, which especially after coming off Next was nice to see him achieve romantic lead status. Was this around the time Cher was dating that 20something bagel guy?
Trevor: I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you know more about Cher’s romantic history than I do.
Margaux: Generally, when it comes to modern pop culture, I do know more than you. But I only ask because he and Cage would’ve been close in age around this time and would explain their spark. Not like I need an explanation.
Trevor: Sorry to keep going back to my opera comparison, but Moonstruck is written and performed in such a way to suggest that Shanley wrote a libretto for an opera, decided to omit all the songs, but still wanted the performers to reach emotional and performative levels that are usually only available through singing. The fact that Moonstruck never gets ridiculous or campy is a testament to the skill of its performers.
Margaux: They overtly tie it to La Boheme from the first 30 seconds of the movie and then there’s that great scene when Loretta and Ronny go see La Boheme together and they hold hands while they watch. Ugh, it’s sooooooo good.
Trevor: This whole cast is dynamite, like Olympia Dukakis, playing Loretta’s mother Rose, who is charming in a straightforward, no-bullshit kind of way. One of my favorite subplots in this movie is her walk home with the lovelorn professor; it makes the film feel genuine and lived-in, by presenting us with an ancillary character whose story could anchor a film of its own.
Margaux: You mean, with Frasier’s Dad?! One of the funniest runners throughout the movie are his failed dates with much younger women at the local Italian restaurant. Rose clocks him for exactly who he is before he’s even said word one to her, and has no problem telling him he likes “to be a bad boy”, and it’s true. And I love that Shanley is smart and gifted storyteller to leave well enough alone instead of tacking an extra 30 minutes to properly “resolve” that arc.
Trevor: It’s smart, economic storytelling, and it shows that Shanley knows that people are going to miss Loretta and Ronny when they’re not on screen. The chemistry between Cage and Cher is INSANE, and you can see it in the opera scene you mentioned: that sweet hand holding, and their terrific facial acting.
Moonstruck is so good, and Cage is so good in it, that you can use it to almost instantly win an argument with someone insisting he’s a bad actor. He’s not a bad actor; he’s a crazy actor, and occasionally a great actor, and that’s why we love him.
Margaux: I think, nowadays, Cage is hired for the Cage-ness he can bring (aka the crazy and manic). But as we’ve seen so far, it really depends on the director – so far, I think Brian de Palma and Norman Jewison are his best fits. They are extremes of his acting style, but in a good ways. Jewison knew the exact right moments to let Ronny go a little too far and pontificate hilariously, “NOW GET IN MY BED.” But I also think Ronny is the only one in Moonstruck who is unaffected by the cycle of the moon.
Next up: Con Air
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