Themes: Starting Over, Death of a Child, Unlikely Friendships
Main Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Ellen Pompeo, Holly Hunter
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Frequent television director Brad Silberling directs the romantic drama Moonlight Mile. Set in a Massachusetts town in the early '70s, Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) is distraught after the death of his fiancée. He moves in with her parents, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and JoJo (Susan Sarandon), while trying to sort out all of the legal troubles and painful details of the wedding cancellations. While trying to locate the wedding invitations in the mail, Joe meets Bertie (Ellen Pompeo), whose boyfriend has been MIA in Vietnam. Despite his growing relationship with his late fiancée's parents, Joe begins to foster a romance with Bertie. Also starring Dabney Coleman and Holly Hunter. Moonlight Mile is based on Brad Silberling's real-life situation following the murder of his TV-star girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
Right down to scoring the trailer with the insistent piano of Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," Moonlight Mile works a combination of nostalgia, grief, and uplift, trying to activate the tear ducts while lodging in the viewer's store of sentimental favorites. It almost succeeds. Brad Silberling's follow-up to City of Angels, Moonlight Mile invokes a handful of recent hits, filtering the subject matter of In the Bedroom through the out-of-time design quirks of The Royal Tenenbaums, as well as Wonder Boys' 70s soundtrack and comfort-of-home familiarity. It has too many Hollywood concessions to straddle that line between independence and accessibility, but the film does abandon some of its predecessor's more maudlin and squishy moments. Judging from his work in 2001 and 2002, Jake Gyllenhaal has patented the hipster savant with saucer eyes and messy cowlicks; this is his most effective work in that role. Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon bring their Oscar credentials to the fore in splendid ways, especially Sarandon as the more complex of the two grieving parents. The post-traumatic emotional fumbling of the leads almost ties the film together, but when the script strays from their uneasy pseudo-family dynamic, it loses focus. Despite a charismatic performance from newcomer Ellen Pompeo, a young Renée Zellweger, her romance with Gyllenhaal feels beside the point, as does the murder trial subplot involving Holly Hunter as a pushy DA. It's no coincidence these scenes also contain Silberling's most derivative writing. A more mature accomplishment than City of Angels, Moonlight Mile still has some distance to go to achieve transcendence. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Richard T. Jones - Ty; Alan Corduner - Stan Michaels; Dabney Coleman - Mike Mulcahey; Alexia Landeau - Cheryl; Gordon Clapp - Tanner; Lenny Clarke - Gordy; Tom Dahlgren - Judge; Richard Fancy - Mr. Meyerson; Jim Fyfe - Server; Roxanne Hart - June Mulcahey; Mark Lotito - Diner Manager; Paul Pape; Mary Ellen Trainor - Mrs. Meyerson; Edward Lachman - Photographer; Paul Perri - Public Defender; Michael Molly - Fay Ray, the Cat; Colombe Jacobsen - Patty; Billy Percy - Fay Ray, the Cat; Robert Wahlberg - Pinky; Phil Reeves - Mr. Don Tippet; Rachel Singer - Rhonda Ketch; Bob Clendenin - Server; Slick Earl - Fay Ray, the Cat; Audrey Marie Anderson - Audrey Anders; Mary Catherine Garrison - Caroline; McNally Sagal - Mrs. Tippet; David Wheeler - Diner Grandfather; John Balma - Walter Ketch; Elizabeth Janas - Cheryl's Friend; Caitlin McKenna; Marcia Mitzman Gaven - Fashion Plate; J. Tom Carey - Baxter; Fatty - Nixon, the Dog; Lev Friedman - Cantor; Jessica Gee; Gary Hetzler - Speedwalker; Lisa Anne Hillman - Jillian Mulcahey; Alexandra Hoffman - Diner Granddaughter; Lady - Nixon, the Dog; Careena Melia - Diana Floss; Richard Messing - Rabbi; Dee Nelson - Waitress; Virginia Newcomb - Cheryl's Friend; Sandy Simpson
Credit
Mark Worthington - Art Director, Charles Daboub, Jr. - Art Director, Avy Kaufman - Casting, Nancy Doyle - Casting, Tighe & Doyle Casting - Casting, Maura Tighe - Casting, Ken Kugler - Conductor, Brian W. Cook - Co-producer, Mary Zophres - Costume Designer, Chitra Mojtabai - First Assistant Director, Michele Panelli-Venetis - First Assistant Director, Rusty Mahmood - First Assistant Director, Michelle Panelli Venetis - First Assistant Director, Brad Silberling - Director, Lisa Churgin - Editor, Susan Sarandon - Executive Producer, Ashok Amritraj - Executive Producer, Patricia Whitcher - Executive Producer, David Hoberman - Executive Producer, Kimberly Spiteri - Hair Styles, Kristi Frankenheimer - Location Manager, Don J. Hug - Location Manager, Mark Isham - Composer (Music Score), Dawn Solér - Musical Direction/Supervision, Rick Sharp - Makeup, Joe Rossi - Makeup, Rick Tiedeman - Camera Operator, Missy Stewart - Production Designer, Phedon Papamichael - Cinematographer, Leeann Stonebreaker - Production Manager, Mark Johnson - Producer, Brad Silberling - Producer, Gary Ritchie - Recording, Kathaleen McCart - Recording, Gina B. Cranham - Set Designer, Kathy Lucas - Set Designer, Cinesite - Special Effects, Pud Cusack - Sound Mixer, Kathleen Cusack - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard King - Sound/Sound Designer, Rick Barker - Stunts Coordinator, Rick LeFevour - Stunts Coordinator, Patricia Whitcher - Unit Production Manager, Brad Silberling - Screenwriter, Studio Animal Services - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Sue Chipperton - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Lisa Davis - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Tom Carlson - Music Editor, Lisé Richardson - Music Editor, David Speltz - Musical Performer, Dean Parks - Musical Performer, Neil Stubenaus - Musical Performer, Sid Page - Musical Performer, Endre Granat - Musical Performer, Cheryl A. Miller - Production Coordinator, Steve Pederson - Re-Recording Mixer, Michael Herbick - Re-Recording Mixer, Dan Leahy - Re-Recording Mixer, Elizabeth Ludwick - Script Supervisor, Michael W. Mitchell - Sound Effects Director, Tom Ryba - Special Effects Coordinator, Rick Tiedeman - Steadicam Operator, Richard King - Supervising Sound Editor, Eric Gotthelf - ADR Mixer, Marsha Sorce - ADR Recordist, Emily Schweber - Casting Associate, Maureen Whalen - Casting Associate, Paul Lopez - Costumes Supervisor, Michael Magill - Dialogue Editor, Hugo Weng - Dialogue Editor, David Lee Fein - Foley Artist, Catherine Rose - Foley Artist, Chris Barnes - Scenic Artist, Linda Folk - ADR Supervisor, David Jobe - Foley Mixer, Linda Lew - Foley Recordist, Patricia Libenson - Foley Supervisor, Brian Ricci - Special Effects Foreman, Gregory Tippie - Special Effects Foreman, Barbara Harris - Voice Casting, Caitlin McKenna - Voice Casting, Kim Santantonio - Department Head Hair
The film takes its name from the Rolling Stones song "Moonlight Mile". The film's original title was Baby's in Black, and then later changed to Goodbye Hello, and then the current title. The film is set in 1973 and music from that era is heavily featured, including that of the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Elton John, transmitting a feeling of the times.
Plot
Following the murder of Diana Floss (Careena Melia) in a restaurant robbery, her fiance Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) elects to stay with her parents. Her father Ben Floss (Dustin Hoffman) is a realtor whose partner has recently left. Ben and Joe go into business as Floss & Son, as this was their plan before Diana's death.
Joe goes to the post office to retrieve all the invites that had been sent, and with the help of Bertie Knox (Ellen Pompeo) he retrieves seventy four of seventy five. She finds the last invite and takes it to his house. He then drops her off at a local bar, and returns home, despite her inviting him in for a drink.
Joe and Ben attend a local property fair, and Ben pitches the idea of redeveloping a block in the town to developer Mike Mulcahey (Dabney Coleman). Mulcahey agrees, but they need to get all the tenants to agree.
Diana's friends come round to look through her possessions, much to the consternation of her mother Jojo (Susan Sarandon). They then take Joe out for a drink at the same bar Bertie went into the previous night. Joe puts "Moonlight Mile" on the jukebox and Bertie dances with him, to jealous looks from Diana's friends.
Joe convinces Ben to let him talk to the bar's owner to convince them to sell. He asks the bartender who owns the bar, but the bartender does not give him the information. Feeling trapped at the Floss home, Joe goes to see Bertie and they sleep together. He leaves early the next morning.
Ben is frustrated at the lack of progress and goes to the bar to see the owner, where he meets Bertie and tells her about Diana. Bertie finds Joe and confronts him; he confesses to her that he had split up with Diana three days before she was killed. Bertie tells Joe about her boyfriend, the owner of the bar, who is lost in Vietnam.
Joe goes to dinner at the Mulcahey's and confesses that he is still thinking about Diana. This causes Mike to call Ben and call off the deal. The family attend the trial of Diana's murderer. However the murderer's wife elicits sympathy from the jury, and the prosecutor Mona Camp (Holly Hunter) asks Joe to testify and help the jury gain sympathy for Diana.
While on the witness stand, Joe confesses that he and Diana had split and that they remained friends but were no longer getting married. Ben and Jojo are happy with the confession and gain closure. Joe writes seventy five letters and posts them around town, hoping that one will get to Bertie.
Ben closes the shop, Jojo resumes her writing career, Bertie sells the bar, and she and Joe leave town.
