Moonlight Mile

"Moonlight Mile" is a film inspired by the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer...but only broadly. This is because the director/writer Brad Silberling had been dating Schaeffer when she died and like the character played by Jake Gyllenhaal, he lived for a time with her parents following this death.

When the story begins, you might find it confusing. Joe's girlfriend had been killed....though this isn't obvious and when you find out, exactly how seems pretty vague as well. What is clear is that Joe (Gyllenhaal) is living with her parents (Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon) and he seems like he's simply going about his life in order to make them happy...sort of like a substitute for his dead fiancee. What's next? See the film.

Considering the film is about a family and boyfriend responding to the the brutal murder of a girl, it obviously is NOT a fun movie to watch. But the performances are very good and the film is unique....reasons to possibly watch it. Well made...and rather unpleasant...though fortunately the film is NOT violent and doesn't show any violence.

This movie is a highly conventional Hollywood drama, complete with carefully placed beauty shots and touchy-feely Mark Isham music. But writer/director Silberling consistently overcomes the cliches of his own picture by finding truly original moments through the subtle glances and gestures of his fine actors, and nice small touches of the world around them.

Jake Gyllenhaal is quietly brilliant, inhabiting the space of his grieving and frustrated character with an assurance and maturity that wasn't guaranteed from his earlier performances--a big step forward for him as an actor. And Susan Sarandon is sharp as hell in her best role in years--Hoffman has the most difficult task, portraying a man who is completely submerged in denial, but he serves the film well and handles the inevitable Big Moments late in the narrative with the class and skill you'd expect.

This movie has some genuinely original points of view about the reality of losing a loved one, and the complexity of human emotion: especially how that complexity is usually at odds with how we're expected to behave in such situations.

There is a tortured romance with Gyllenhaal's character that is cliched to begin with, and nearly altogether bungled by the writing. Unfortunately, this part is central to the story, so you're stuck with scenes that seem like a cross between Adrian Lyne sex-drama and an episode of The Wonder Years. This story string also leads > to an ending that will likely be far too neatly tied for many discerning filmgoers, as it was for me.

But when the movie sticks to the messy yet electric triangle of the dead girl's parents and her fiancee, it's really something. Unless you simply can't abide by a movie that's unapologetic about its mainstream Hollywood nature, excellent performances, consistently interesting touches in the writing, striking photography, and more than a few original ideas make this movie worth a look.

This is a very well acted movie that deals with a sudden loss in a family in a better way than I would expect. The movie avoids the usual clichés and through some very strong performances shows us how it could really be. The dead person is the daughter of Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and Jojo (Susan Sarandon), her fiancé named Joe (Jake Gyllenhaal) is now living with them. The girl was murdered, simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now Ben and Joe go into business together and the all try to live on in their own ways. Joe befriends a girl named Bertie Knox (Ellen Pompeo) who also has lost someone.

Like I said the subject is handled in a very good way. May be the movie makes some easy choices, especially near the end, but the acting is so good and real here that the movie is easily forgiven. Gyllenhaal plays the same kind of part as he did in 'Donnie Darko' and 'The Good Girl', not the most happy one. He has the best single scene, although overall veterans Hoffman and Sarandon are as good as he is. The best thing though is Ellen Pompeo. Her character has a certain sweetness and nice way of dealing with things and Pompeo finds the perfect note for playing this part. See it for the acting and you will find a lot more.

I would give it a 7.5 out of 10.

There is so much not to like about this movie - Susan Sarandon overdoes the cool mom bit, they use each others' names all the time, Dustin Hoffman shuffles about like Rainman in several scenes, the love story is rather improbable, the ending too perfectly happy happy, Jake tends to have one expression through the whole movie and you don't realise it is in the 70's until they start talking about Vietnam. It also bothered me for some reason that Jake wore the same pants throughout.

BUT I loved it loved it loved it. It is funny, sad, happy and has so many great actors in it (plus animals). The soundtrack is fantastic. Jake has the funny scene at the table and the serious scene in court - must have been a dream role to play. Jake has really been good about varying his roles which must be hard when you fit the stereotypical young hunk role. I think the dancing scene and the love scene are absolutely beautiful and show affection and the need for affection more than sex which is rare - the music is perfectly matched to both these scenes. I am glad they chose a plainer, quirkier leading lady - Ellen Pompeo does it amazingly well (though watching her in Grey's she always seems to play the same character). She is 11 years older than Jake though and he seemed like a teenager in the movie so I was confused as to whether she was supposed to be so much older in the movie.

It is not the best movie I have ever seen but it was way way better than I thought it would be and I was surprised that it sank without a trace at the time.

Waitress Diana Floss was killed by a husband who came to the diner to kill his wife. Mona Camp (Holly Hunter) is the prosecutor. Diana's fiancé Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) is staying with her parents Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and Jojo (Susan Sarandon) who still treats him as their own son. He feels obligated to stay which includes going along with Ben's plan of him being in the family commercial realty business. He falls for Bertie Knox (Ellen Pompeo) but they both have secrets of their own.

It's a movie about a lot of suffering but mostly done quietly. Everybody is getting crushed but nobody is particularly interested to admit it. It has the air of truth. However it isn't able to squeeze emotions out of the audience. We get to witness their suffering without really feeling it. Most of the performances are great. Gyllenhaal does a terrific job bringing life to the emotional dialog which could have gone another way.