Serious Moonlight

Failed to keep captive my interest.

Cheryl Hines directs a leftover Adrienne Shelly script, adequately for the most part, but I wish she'd starred, too. It's not that I don't like Meg Ryan. Well, yeah, I guess it kinda is. Shelly evidently felt that there was still more mileage in the woman-kidnaps-man-into-loving-her dynamic after I'LL TAKE YOU THERE, and there are indeed even more jarring tonal shifts and re-writing of romcom conventions. But it never comes together and ends like a half-baked New Yorker story circa 1995.

Surprisingly enjoyable black-cum-romantic comedy, which spotlights a forceful return to the screen by Ryan, who elevates the spotty and sometimes confused material. At its best in the first hour when Hutton and Ryan trade VIRGINIA WOOLF style barbs, however the unexpectedly vivid and nasty direction the second act takes, threatens to derail the otherwise light-hearted goings on.

The screenplay Adrienne Shelly (writer-director of "Waitress") left behind after her murder never comes to life under the uneven direction of her friend and "Waitress" actor Cheryl Hines. The tone lurches from cute to uncomfortably violent; Ryan and Hutton both do cute well, but the violence seem like something from another movie. If Meg Ryan weren't so charming, so surprisingly subtle, this would be a very, very long hour-and-a-half indeed.

Interestingly if a wife duct tapes her husband to a toilet it's light-hearted romantic comedy fare. But if a husband duct tapes his wife to the toilet it's called Saw.

Shewouldachosesomeoneelseordirectedmeg/itbetter+wouldabeenaforce+loveincompleteexperimentbythegods+gladexposedbuttheycouldajustleftitobvious+wowcherylhinesdirectedit-andthedocmademerealizeshe'snotactuallylarrydavid'swifelmaoithoughtshewasandjusthappenedtobeperfect

http://gorgview.com/serious-moonlight

Incredibly awkward.

Serious Moonlight is an inconsistent film that probably should have been a play instead of a feature film. It gets repetitive in order to get its runtime above 80 minutes, the actors don't seem to have a clue as to they should be doing, and we don't care about these two leads despite spending almost every frame with both of them. It picks up near the end, and a few of the comedic touches help liven things up, but on the whole it's not a movie that's worth your time.

"Hopefully Serious Moonlight will not become Meg Ryan's Trog: an embarrassing, final starring role in an otherwise respectable movie star career that has sputtered to a halt in recent years." - Ryan Stewart

Enjoyable film. Yeah, it's somewhere between the beauty and charm of You've Got Mail and the slap-stick Addicted to Love.

You know the end from the very beginning. Ryan's play is funny... Just if you want some consolation that things with love goes so easy and the way we want.