Serious Moonlight lacks the passion of its characters
November 7, 2009
I am a big fan of Cheryl Hines from "Curb your Enthusiasm"; her comic talent is unmistakable. However, her directing debut left me confused. The new black comedy Serious Moonlight seems unappealing on many levels and even Meg Ryan's strong performance does not help it. The story of why a marriage fails is not new - difficulty having kids, aging, loss of sexual interest, but this story is provoking thanks to the betrayal plot underneath. Still, I was excited when the hour and a half run was over; there just wasn't enough to make a lasting impression.
The plot starts off with Louise (Meg Ryan) - a 40-someting high-powered lawyer running through her busy day. At the same time her cheating husband Ian (Timothy Hutton) is both setting a beautiful rose-petal-covered rendezvous with his girlfriend and writing the last ("I am leaving you") note to his wife Louise. When Louise comes back home early, the husband is caught off guard but proceeds to tell her of his intentions of leaving and running to Paris with his younger girlfriend. Then, Louise decides to take him hostage by taping him first to the chair and then the toilet. The husband tries to escape but Louise manages to VERY skillfully hit him in the head with a potted plant. She has quite the skill at pot throwing, marvelous aim. All the while she is talking to Ian and telling him that he will see he is still in love with her and will never leave her. A beautiful dress, old wedding photo and a moonlight serenade are other signs of serious effort she puts into this. Meg Ryan whole-heartedly takes on the role of a crazy woman in love and her performance is smart. Timothy Hutton, on the other hand, seems a one-note kind of actor here, as hateful as he tries to be. When Kristen Bell (the young girlfriend Sara) stops by, there is an interesting conversation between the women, almost surreal (as is Louise's attempt to keep her husband by taping him to the toilet), but that is quickly over when they leave and Ian is alone in the house struggling to get out. I have to admit, the husband and all the future characters that end up tied up, don't really struggle enough. It was actually annoying to see the lack of struggle. But this is not where it ends.
The next twist in the story which by now is following the scheme of the dark comedies (first funny then things go terribly wrong), is a burglary. Yes, while Ian is taped to the toilet, his house gets burglarized by a bunch of young kids with Justin Long in charge. Louise comes back and she is too held hostage now joining Ian in the bathroom. She is first unconscious (intentionally or not?) and then continues to work on getting her husband back. I do admire her crazy persistence. However, miraculously (sorry if it's sarcastic) it pays off. All of a sudden, faced with a potential loss of his wife and his life, Ian does a 180 and is back in love with Louise and his girlfriend Sara is now history. Conveniently this is when she stops by the house and is taken hostage to the same bathroom. Serious conversation takes place but Ian is confident in his new choice. Burglars leave and all is back to normal. Sara leaves sad and heart-broken and Ian and Louise reunite; they move out and have a baby later on. A wonderful end to what could have gone really wrong. But this is not the end.
There is a twist in this tale. It's a twist that is rather predictable, at least it was for me. Still, it made the movie a little more entertaining, gave it another shot of craziness, which is why I won't reveal it. I really wanted to like this movie. It had a lot of the right parts - screenplay was definitely off the beaten track. Yet, I didn't feel that the story truly materialized into something that was interesting to watch. Despite all the madness, it felt bland. And for this reason, I would skip it. There are better movies to see this month.
