Sweet, Flawless, Over-the-Top Funny
Year Released: 1987
Directed by: Norman Jewison
Starring: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Olympia Dukakis
(Pg, 102 min.)
Genre: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Olympia Dukakis
Academy Awards: Best Actress - Cher, Best Supporting Actress - Olympia Dukakis, Best Screenplay - John Patrick Shanley

“… love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die.” –Ronny Cammareri (Nicolas Cage)

Flawless, even as it shows all our human flaws right up there on the big screen. It’s enough to make you believe in true love and second chances all over again. And the Italian humor and philosophy are the icing on the cake.

Just the right medicine to wash down some sour years and usher in a time filled with love, hope, and family once again.

Looking back three decades gives us some perspectives and surprises. First of all, Cher is a pretty good actress, as evidenced by her Oscar win, and her wonderful performance here. And Nicolas Cage, reviled as he sometimes (unfairly?) is, hits just the right notes.

I think all Italians are born philosophers, and sometimes, the less educated the better. But let’s set the table first, which fits because with us, it always starts with food, right, fellow Goombas?

Loretta Castorini (Cher), a widowed bookkeeper from Brooklyn, finds herself in difficult straits when she falls for the brother of the man she has agreed to marry.

Those last 3 words. They are the catch. “Agreed To Marry.” They reek of settling, of taking second best because you have given up on life. Cher’s Loretta, like too many in her family, is a walking zombie, but she doesn’t really know it.

But her mother Rose, the wonderful fellow Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, thinks Loretta has chosen well:

Rose Castorini: Do you love him, Loretta?
Loretta Castorini: No.
Rose Castorini: Good. When you love 'em, they drive you crazy. 'Cause they know they can.

And that is exactly what is happening to Rose herself. She knows her beloved Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia) is distant. Any even if they say the wife is the last to know, she suspects he is seeing someone else, too. That is why he falls asleep on the chair downstairs instead of warming bed beside her.

***

A few scenes are pivotal. One is Loretta’s first meeting with Ronny Cammareri, an over-the -top Nicolas Cage, which actually works here. She does so at the behest of Johnny, her new finance, now estranged from Ronny and wanting to make amends with him before the wedding.

Ronny works tirelessly in the bakery he owns. When we and Loretta first see him, he is a ruggedly handsome modern Vulcan, wearing a sweaty “wife beater” undershirt, feeding endless loaves to a fiery oven,. And not at all amenable to burying the hatchet, since the rift is the result of another very sharp instrument.

The bread machine,that has sliced off his hand, due to his distraction while talking to his brother Johnny 5 years ago. Ronny is not amused:

I don’t care! I ain’t no freakin’ monument to justice!
I lost my hand! I lost my bride!
Johnny has his hand! Johnny has his bride!

But you have to watch these clips so see his flawless drama queen hysterics. And maybe, like Loretta, you will fall a little bit in love with Ronny Cammareri, too.

But you will have to watch the film itself to see Cher’s wonderful analysis of Ronny, the “wolf who has chewed off his own paw.” Another demonstration of how common, and so called uneducated people might be ten times better than psychiatrists, many of whom should be working on their own heads, in Different Drummer’s humble opinion.

Loretta sees Johnny’s heart. He has a tender soul and a great love for opera, (as did his character Jack Campbell in 2000’s Family Man)

On their night at La bohème he is transformed. And so is his reluctant date Loretta. Except she isn’t really reluctant, even though it takes a lot to convince her to go out with him. Otherwise, why does she spend the day getting her hair redone and picking the just right dress, heels, and jewelry. It is not the shrewd and practical accountant Loretta who meets him outside the Met. She is transformed into a Cinderella, and Ronny, in his tux, is a kind of Prince Charming.

Loretta is mesmerized with La bohème, but she has her own way of expressing it:

Loretta Castorini: That was so awful.
Ronny Cammareri: Awful?
Loretta Castorini: Beautiful... sad. She died!
Ronny Cammareri: Yes.
Loretta Castorini: I was surprised... You know, I didn't really think she was gonna die. I knew she was sick.
Ronny Cammareri: She had TB.
Loretta Castorini: I know! I mean, she was coughing her brains out, and still she had to keep singing!”

Her last lines echoes what I know many of us have thought at times about the prima donnas on stage, doesn’t it?

Then there is the brief scene, almost a cameo, where a despondent Rose, now convinced that her beloved Cosmo is seeing another woman, meets Perry (the always wonderful John Mahonney we remember so much from Frasier) at the local Italian restaurant. He is with a young woman, who, just like a similar one we have witnessed at this same restaurant before, becomes enraged with him, dousing him with her drink before stomping out.

Rose, in her wisdom and frankness tells him, “She’s too young for you,” and eventually the urbane college professor confesses to a string of these undergrad “romances” that only briefly lighten his life. Here again we see the wisdom of regular people versus the sometimes over educated, as well as the emptiness of superficial flings.

But Perry is set in his ways, and even invites Rose back to his apartment, only to be met with her equally cool appraisal.

“I’m too old for you.”

Her refusal coincides with his awestruck reaction to her large and stately house right in the middle of the city.

“What does your husband do?” he queries.

“He’s a plumber.”

Of course that large house holds 3 generations of her family, including at least 3 or 4 dogs belonging to her grandfather in law.

***

These are just the appetizers. You must watch the whole thing, even if you have seen it before. The ending is a sweet as a homemade cannoli with chocolate sprinkles on top.

And Rose in all her wisdom, like my wonderful Italian grandmother, gets in the last word.

Cosmo Castorini: A man understands one day that his life is built on nothing, and that's a bad, crazy day.
Rose Castorini: Your life is not built on nothing! Ti amo.”

–Kathy Borich
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

Some of the best scenes in Moonstruck are around the family breakfast table with Rose Castorini (Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis) cooking a skillet of eggs for the family. She has a special way of doing it; she puts an egg in the middle of bread slices, which all have circles cut out in the middle. Then she flips them for an easy over. I could not find an exact recipe for that, but feel free to try it yourself.

For a typical Sunday breakfast my Italian mother used to fry up copious amounts of fresh green peppers – I always liked them on the crisp side – to go along with the eggs. If you scramble the eggs, use fresh parsley and Parmesan to give them an Italian flair. Sizzle up some Italian sausage and there you have it. But don’t forget the fresh-sliced tomatoes on the side if you want to do it my mother’s way.

Here is an equally interesting Italian Breakfast skillet:

Hey, why not try all three varieties at your leisure.

Italian Sausage and Egg Breakfast

"The morning scramble goes to Italy with Italian sausage, peppers, and a hint of oregano, surrounded by perfectly scrambled eggs."

Ingredients

· 1 tablespoon olive oil

· 2 cups frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes

· 8 ounces Italian sausage, cooked, sliced

· 1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)

· 1 cup frozen tri-color pepper mixture

· 4 eggs

· 1/4 cup milk or water

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

· 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

Directions

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add potatoes; cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add sausage, mushrooms, if desired, and peppers; cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes.
Meanwhile beat eggs, milk, salt and oregano in bowl until blended.
Reduce heat to medium. Pour eggs over mixture in skillet. As eggs begin to set, gently pull the eggs across the pan with an inverted turner. Continue cooking until eggs are thickened and no visible liquid egg remains. Do not stir constantly.
Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from heat; cover pan. Let stand until cheese is melted, 2 to 3 minutes.

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