Review of Paper Moon (2013) by Blake P — 02 Feb 2012

Con man Moses (Ryan O'Neal) after a successful swindle suddenly has to look over the rambunctious Addy (Tatum O'Neal) after making a deal to transport her to her aunt's house. They stop at tons of houses along the way to sell "ordered bibles", and soon enough Addy gets in on the act and gets them even more money.

Just when she and Moze are getting close, he picks up prostitute Trixie Delight (Kahn) and her black maid (Johnson), which doesn't last long after Addy gets rid of them. Over the course of the next few days, she and Moze develop a father/daughter relationship which makes it even harder to say goodbye.

Though an excellent film, "Paper Moon" is more famous because of Tatum O'Neal's Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress when she was only ten. Luckily, it isn't one of those movies that just has that one gimmick.

Bogdanovich treats this follow-up to his gigantic movie "The Last Picture Show" just as equal and is just as good. Filmed in glossy black-and-white similar to the latter, the film creates an atmosphere that fits the 1930's just perfectly, along with the costumes and the few sets there actually is.

Aside from this, the movie also boasts a very funny script, and of course excellent performances, which all make the film thrive. But Ryan O'Neal doesn't make the film especially great-- it's actually all do to both his daughter Tatum, and the other supporting actress Madeline Kahn that make this film so much more memorable.

Tatum makes the film even better with her great performance, which is better than most you'll see from child actors, and Kahn shines in her hilarious role as well. "Paper Moon" is a tad bit overrated, but I still loved the look of the film, not to mention almost everything else.

Recommended.