Moonlight Mile (2002)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Brad Silberling

Writer (WGA):

Brad Silberling (written by)

Release Date:

4 October 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

In life and love, expect the unexpected.

Plot:

As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.

Plot Keywords:

1970s | Language Learning | Writer | Photo Studio | Loss Of Fiancée

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal	...	Joe Nast
Dustin Hoffman	...	Ben Floss
Susan Sarandon	...	Jojo Floss
Aleksia Landeau	...	Cheryl
Ellen Pompeo	...	Bertie Knox
Richard Messing	...	Rabbi
Lev Friedman	...	Cantor
Bob Clendenin	...	Server #1 (as Robert Clendenin)
Jim Fyfe	...	Server #2
Mary Ellen Trainor	...	Mrs. Meyerson
Richard Fancy	...	Mr. Meyerson
Marcia Mitzman Gaven	...	Fashion Plate
Allan Corduner	...	Stan Michaels
Holly Hunter	...	Mona Camp
Careena Melia	...	Diana Floss

Also Known As:

Baby's in Black (USA) (working title)
Goodbye Hello (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and brief strong language.

Runtime:

Argentina:146 min | Canada:112 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:117 min | UK:116 min | Portugal:120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Portugal:M/12 (original rating) | Iceland:L | Finland:K-11 | Canada:A (Ontario) | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Epsilon Motion Pictures

Trivia:

Writer/director Brad Silberling wrote the characters of Ben and JoJo Floss with Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon in mind.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Massachusetts did not have the death penalty in the early '70s.

Quotes:

Joe Nast: That song at the bar, that was your's?
Bertie: He never actually heard it... but
Joe Nast: ...But he knew you pretty well?
Bertie: About 60%

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

Sweet Head

well-written, well-acted

Jake Gylenhaal reprises (see: Donnie Darko) the sensitive, slightly confused young man searching for truth and its attendant emotional clarity. The characters (with the possible exception of Sarandon) attempt to hide truth, mostly from themselves, with silence and various feats of mental slight of hand. When all is finally revealed, I would have liked to believe that the characters would act nobly the way they do here, even if the character dialogue up to this point has not given all of them razor sharp definition. However, it is the acting of the cast (especially Hoffmann's) that makes us believe they are the people we see at the end of the movie, and their synergy with Brad Silberling's writing/directing makes the film work. (It is particularly revealing that Silberling had Sarandon and Hoffman in mind when he wrote the original draft; rent DVD if possible) We are convinced of the characters' virtue through well-written dialogue and well thought out character relationships. Would Sarandon's "wickedly honest" character really have married a schmuck? No, indirectly taking the heat off Hoffmann's character to prove himself prior to his ultimate acceptance of the truth. What about Bertie? (played by the lovely Ellen Pompeo - read: attractive, not just another hot airhead) Her involvement with the Gylenhaal character adds an extra twist to the Gylenhall-Sarandon-Hoffman triangle and her presence as a love interest adds levity to an otherwise pretty serious subject, but should she really get as close to the Gylenhaal character as quickly as we're led to believe? What do they have in common? The death of someone close and a Rolling Stones song nobody heard of before the title of this movie. Why did their involvement have to be a rapidly flourishing romantic one? I think an I-like-you-and-you-like-me would have been sufficient to complicate the situations in business and on the home front vis-a-vis Gylenhaal's former relationship with Hoffman and Sarandon's daughter. The rest of the character relationships develop naturally, at a well-measured pace, but this one races miles ahead. This is the only real flaw I found with the movie. The soundtrack is fantastic and also shows vision on the part of Silberling in that he conceived of certain key scenes with these songs in mind.