Moonlight Mile Review
Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 11.02.2002
7-time Academy Award nominee Dustin Hoffman finally returns to the screen after a nearly three year absence. Luckily, he came back in a film worthy of his legendary status.
Moonlight Mile
Release Date: October 4th, 2002
Movies have a difficult time showing families grieve. Oftentimes they come off as cheesy or lame, and always feature someone bursting into uncontrollable tears. The clichés go on and on. Other movies, like Moonlight Mile, are so perfectly written and impeccably acted, that it is the audience that ends up in tears (I certainly did). But it is not a mere “tear-jerker,” a film that exploits sympathy for cheap tears. It is a film that legitimately elicits sadness through brilliantly drawn characters.
The film is based partly on the experiences of writer and director Brad Silberling (City of Angels), who was dating actress Rebecca Schaeffer when she was murdered in 1989. Moonlight Mile is about a murder, but it does not explain that to the audience with tedious expository dialogue. It reveals what it is about slowly and deliberately.
Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon play Ben and JoJo Floss, the parents of the murder victim, Diana. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Joe, Diana’s fiancé, who decides to move in with the Flosses after the incident. This is a tremendous comfort to Ben, who has grand plans for siphoning Joe into his small-time real estate business. JoJo likes Ben, but is clear that her suffering will not be alleviated by anyone but herself. Ben is determined to answer every sad phone call, see every sympathetic visitor, and keep all the gifts people give them. JoJo on the other hand, refuses to answer the phone, hates having visitors, and burns self-help books friends offer as gifts. Then later, she becomes angry when one of her friends does not ask how they are doing. “You don’t like it when they do ask, you don’t like it when they don’t ask. Which is it?” Ben asks his wife. “I get pissed when they ask, I get pissed when they don’t, and that’s just the way it is,” she responds. Then they share a laugh.
Laughter is part of the reason Moonlight Mile works as well as it does. It does not simply show the parents and Joe grieving, but it shows them trying to overcome their grief. Ben tries to cover it up through activity and his relationship with Joe. JoJo is more vocal about her grieving. But the film does not just show the parents sad. They laugh at times, they fight at times. They are confused at other times, particularly when theur lawyer (Holly Hunter, in a brief but effective role) asks if they approve of her to push for the death penalty against the man who murdered their daughter. Hoffman and Sarandon so embody their roles that one can hardly believe they are actors; they simply are Ben and JoJo Floss. It is clearly the best work either of them have done in years.
Surprisingly, on par with the work of Hoffman and Sarandon are the young actors in the film. Jake Gyllenhaal, who has really come into his own in the past few years with roles in diverse films like Donnie Darko, The Good Girl, and October Sky plays Joe, the true lead of the film. Gyllenhaal certainly vies with Tobey Maguire for best young actor out there today. Gyllenhaal hardly seems to be acting, he appears to just behave, and react to what goes on around him as if it were really happening to him. He is a confused young man, and living with his dead fiancé’s parents only serve to make his life more awkward. He clearly cares for Ben and JoJo and they care for him, but they are almost strangers, forced together via outside forces.
Joe’s life is further complicated when he meets Bertie Knox (an absolute revelation in Ellen Pompeo). There is clearly an attraction the instant they meet. But it would be wrong of me to reveal the particulars of their relationship, because the beauty of a film like Moonlight Mile is watching it all unfold before your eyes. Gyllenhaal and Pompeo have several heart-wrenching scenes together, and one can only hope that these two will continue to do films of as high quality as this.
I simply cannot say enough good things about the acting in this movie. Another outstanding scene in the film is a small argument between Ben and JoJo, when JoJo criticizes the things her friends are saying to her. “What are they supposed to say, put yourself in their shoes,” Ben implores. “We’re the ones who lost a daughter, they can put themselves in our shoes,” she replies. Another great scene is when someone finally mentions that JoJo and Joe share the same name. It is JoJo of course, saying, “isn’t it the tits that we have the same name?” she says. It is a remarkable scene, and the film just overflows with them. Gyllenhaal and Pompeo display charisma well beyond their years, and Hoffman and Sarandon simply shine. Silberling wrote a fantastic script, and his direction is perfect. Moonlight Mile is simply one of the best films of the year.
The 411: It’s hard to go wrong with Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon in the same film. It’s even harder to go wrong when the film is as good as this one. Silberling used his own life experience and transferred it into a beautiful, moving film. Others have criticized it as being overly sappy, but truthfully it is very restrained. Hoffman, Sarandon, Gyllenhaal and Pompeo should be rewarded with Oscar nominations, as should Silberling for his script.
