Review of Serious Moonlight (2009) by Hoops2448 — 25 Oct 2011

Serious Moonlight is not what I expected at all, in both a good and a bad way. The title itself is still a mystery to me but the rest of the film is a little bit simplistic. The story is one of Louise (Meg Ryan) and Ian (Timothy Hutton), an unhappily married couple who have sort of an odd weekend.

It starts with Louise surprising Ian for the weekend at their summer house while he is writing a letter about how he is about to leave her. Ian plucks up the courage to tell her and she responds by knocking him out and tying him to a chair with ducktape.

The story continues from there in a play like fashion with there being grand sweeping statements, outlandish actions that can only be pulled off on the stage. Ryan and Hutton are joined from time to time by Ian's mistress Sara (Kristen Bell) and a gardener named Todd (Justin Long) who manage to infuse some comedy into the incredibly depressing proceedings of the first half.

In fact the best part of Moonlight is that it turns itself on its head halfway and becomes much more enjoyable with a much more agreeable tone. The tone of the first half is going for black comedy but the comedy is stale and the idea that yelling (which Hutton does for most of the first half) can be found funny is beyond me.

The second half however is lively, clever (in places), fun and most of all, its funny. Ryan even manages to fit in some physical comedy despite the obvious restrictions in both the script and the setting.

Overall its a film that needed a more skilled hand then a first time director (Cheryl Hines) and the script felt more like a draft than a finished product despite the fact it had some brilliantly funny moments towards the end.

The acting is good, if not great at times with Ryan and Hutton having great chemistry and some nice comic timing (despite all the yelling.) its just a shame about the first half.