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Blue Moon

2000, Movie, PG-13, 90 mins

Blue Moon: Review

BLUE MOON
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A romantic fable of the twilight years and The Twilight Zone. Frank (Ben Gazzara) is a successful business owner segueing comfortably, if morosely, into retirement. His perky, pragmatic wife, Maggie (Rita Moreno), is finally ready to enjoy life with hubby, having raised three kids and accepted that Frank's business always came first. But when she drags him to a would-be romantic getaway at their cabin in the Catskills, Frank's inarticulate longing both worries and infuriates her; she wishes things were different. In a parallel story, we meet twentysomethings Mac (Brian Vincent) and Peggy (Alanna Ubach). They're dressed retro — she in apparent Chanel, he in a Rod Serling-esque black jacket and thin tie — and that, combined with other clues contained within the movie (and the marketing), make it clear that these two are Frank and Maggie's younger selves. Mac and Peggy intend to weekend at the same cabin, which Mac believes he's rented; the older couple, roused from sleep, holds them at bay, thinking they are con artists. But then the two couples discover that the phone's out, both cars are missing, and the moon in the sky is one big pizza pie — that's amazing. Secrets emerge, loves are reaffirmed, and the dance scene near the end is as moving as anything you'll ever see on the screen. Gazzara delivers a nuanced, emotionally real performance, a reminder of what this great actor can still do when given a fully fleshed-out character to play. The chemistry between Gazzara and Moreno is subtle, touching and true. Yet the movie suffers from wishy-washiness over its central conceit. Revealing it early would have placed the focus on how this miraculous chance affects these ordinary humans; doing it at the end would have provided a twist, putting all the preceding events in a revelatory light. Plopping it into the middle, however, makes the lead-in events feel long and tedious, and the payoff seem less powerful than this otherwise affecting and loving movie deserves. leave a comment --Frank Lovece
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