MovieChat Forums > Moonlight Mile (2002) Discussion > Guys...keep it down...it's not THAT good

Guys...keep it down...it's not THAT good

posted 20 years ago by swedishguy30
51 replies | jump to latest

Hi everyone...
am I the only one here who thinks that this movie wasn't really that good??
Sure, it had its moments, but than...

The story itself had something. Could have been really great...but it quite simply didn't have it...
The roll list was impressive, but apart from Susan Sarandon (who always is fantastic) the actors tried, but to no avail....Dustin was overacting just as in his best Rain Man days...

The dialogue...I just say: "Why me?"....but a few nice scenes came right through, no doubt, but this movie is just not real! It doesn't get to you. Not really....

It's hard to put a finger on it, to really point out the weaknesses, but I guess it's just that you feel it...maybe that's why the company guys did not put too much afford in it to promote it...

Apart from this....maybe I am just too european, but wasn't the whole set up just a little bit too american...nothing raw there...it's not like "Speak to her" by Almodovar....

Read almost all post on the board, but no one till now could convince me that my feeling about this movie is totally wrong....

Please, keep trying....

Cheers,
Michael
Swedishguy30

[–] kpbaca 20 years ago

NOT THAT GOOD???? Try Awful.

[–] whipit7 20 years ago

It was ok, a little schmaltzy though. Dustin Hoffman has become too stiff and formulaic.

[–] btanna 20 years ago

yes you are right....very disappointing. i usually cry in anything & everything. great soundtrack though!

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rmortenson 20 years ago

Really pretentious Eespecially after seeing the DVD special features where everyone in the cast and the director all spill over with self importance. They are all so bloated by their own Hollywood image that they can't see the forest from the trees. Every step was overdone.

[–] Amade-a 20 years ago

It was really a big disappointment. The story was not that good. Overacting made it even worse. May be I expected a better movie considering the crew.

[–] Vermonster 20 years ago

I was hoping that this film would rise above the weight of cliches and simplistic plot. I thought that perhaps with such a "low" concept the writer/director could focus on interesting characters and good dialogue. But it's not like that. The movie feels forced and sometimes I feel as thought I've watching the rehearsals rather than the finished product. Also, why do they keep using their names so much? I didn't understand that. So much of this movie feels like a joke I don't get. Someone had to explain to me that it was supposed to take place in the 70s. I couldn't even tell! I thought Jake G was doing that Williamsburg Brooklyn disaffected hipster hair thing. I had no idea it was supposed to evoke an era.

The writing was bad and I really wanted to like this movie. I loved the way they vacillated between the absurd and the poignant, but like there are better ways to convey this rather than cheesy dialogue.

Dustin Hoffman really gets on my nerves of late. He's always doing a Rainman or The Graduate impression. Maybe that's just the way he talks or something. And Jake, I love him, but you could tell he was auditioning for the remake of the Graduate, and trying to use his three facial expressions to subsitute for acting.

[–] goody82 14 years ago

I did not even know this movie was Portraying the 70s until I popped the title into Wikipedia about 2/3s in. Then it kinda explained the jukebox, but yeah prior to that I just thought it was the kinda town where people had old beater cars LOL. I figured Jake's style was because the movie was 2002 and now I'm watching at 2010.

[–] mathmaniac 8 years ago

I agree.
I first saw the film on DVD and was not impressed at all - by anything in the story or the acting. Completely forgettable. But then, years later, I saw it again (just last night). I thought it looked like it was written by a novice writer for a television series! As if the person was thinking, 'Hmmm, how will I get from HERE to THERE? Oh, I'll build a little bridge with a cute scene where I inject some dialogue that shows _____ and then I'll stick in a symbol that says _______.'
This is like hopping puddles in the rain. Big deal.

Then, I made the mistake of listening to the director's commentary as I did some other work on my computer. Ugh. Are directors, as a group, the most self-absorbed name-droppers on the planet?

When Brad Silberling said that Susan Sarandon was wearing a watch that belonged to him and the prop guys handed it over to him each night as if it were precious, I thought his comments about himself and his life and his actions and his thoughts were so over-the-top inflated with self-importance that it would be an effort to continue.
But I did - continue. Creative people? Jeez. I doubt it's creativity that drives this stuff, this 'And then I had my eggs over-easy with toast points and Dustin said to me...'

Ugh.Double ugh. Here's a tip-off, too: when you see 'big names' sprinkling such a slight navel-gazing story (which is surprising because the story starts with a tragic loss), it's bad news. Brilliant filmmaking comes along now and then - and there is also competent film-making. This is competent film-making and it stops at competent.

(BTW, I was prepared to enjoy the director's commentary. I had listened to the director's commentary of 'Manhood' while washing dishes. I have NEVER heard such name-dropping, self-aggrandizing unburdening and self-centered commentary as that. This could never approach that level, but it came close...)

[–] ateykay 20 years ago

I can't convince you to like Moonlight Mile. I think with any film, either you enjoy it or you don't. But yes, perhaps you are too European to appreciate how real this movie is. I guess maybe you'd have to have grown up in the States to appreciate and identify with certain parts - the pre-shopping mall American small town, the local towny bar, the perfect family that isn't perfect, trying to do what's expected of you. I must say, I did love "TALK to Her," but really such a different film, I would not have thought to compare the two. Maybe you are referring to the sense of loss, the longing, the secrets?

ttfn,
K

[–] Whoah10115 20 years ago

I think it's near great(Only seen it once) and features great work from all the actors. It wasn't schmaltzy. And pretensious? This movie is autobiographical. The director/writer wrote this about his own life and what happened to Jake's character happened to him...And he used all of that to make the best movie he could. He made a great movie. Pretensious it is not. That's just stupid.

[–] slofstra 14 years ago

Something from the States that is real? You're in a hole to begin with there aren't you? The only "real" American movies are complete artifice, like It's A Wonderful Life or that kind of thing. Yes, I do have a European background which might help explain why I thought this movie a big waste of time.

[–] Twisted_Cinderella 20 years ago

I think that it's a fantastic movie!
Jake Gyllenhaal is really good, but that's just my opinion...
Susan Sarandon is kinda funny in that movie... Like a comic releaf...
And I regignized a lot of myself in her character!
Just that part, when she says, that it makes her mad, when the friends don't ask about her daughters death, but it also makes her mad when the friends DO ask...
I think that I would feel the same way...!

The person who says that nothing's impossible has never tried to slam a swingdoor...

[–] etic_74 20 years ago

I've just watched this film, and I'm confused as to what I thought, as ridiculous as that is.

I found the scene in the courtroom particularly moving, and also where 'Ben' tells 'Joe' to call him.

As for over acting, I felt it was underacted in some parts, to be honest. I can't explain why...mostly the character of 'Joe' though. Also, perhaps this is just my perspective being a female, but would he seriously just jump into bed with the first girl he met? I don't know.

So I'm unsure of my points at the moment, but I definetly wouldn't disrespect the film in any way, because that's unconstructive, and unnecessary.

Thanks for reading. :-)

[–] Infinity1379 20 years ago

He didn't jump into bed with the first girl he met. That girl (Cheryl, or Sharon, or something) was basically throwing herself at him, and he didn't even think about trying anything with her. Bertie was just the right person.
Btw, I totally understand what you mean when you say you're confused as to what you thought. I was when I first watched it as well. I just re-watched it today, and I saw such a compelling film. I almost didn't want to watch it again, because of some of the general feelings I had when I remembered it. But I couldn't stop watching once I started it again.

Alexis

"Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing."
-Data

[–] pracad 19 years ago

Infinity you are so right there. That's how I feel. Sometimes when I see a good film I like to savor it? or something lol. Because the next time you see it you won't feel the same and that might spoil it.
Kind of stupid but this film really affected my emotions, it was sort of like when I first saw Lost In Translation.

I didn't think it was over-acted. Maybe Dustin, he was a bit awkward.
Jake's courtroom piece..can you blame him?
That bit was totally stupid and out of the blue. Bad writing and it just dragged on for too long. I wondered what the hell was going to happen. Maybe he should have broke down earlier.

The film was really good but it wasn't without flaws. Namely the silly lawyer, the tiny amount of attention actually given to the trial. Getting to know the Bride (i've even forgot her name) So we didn't really feel anything for her when she was the one killed. Only those who were left behind.
It all moves a bit quick and Jake's character never really shows any proper sadness. Maybe he is still in a daze though as it was so soon. It would have better to see more moping around.

And that's all i have to say about that. For now.

[–] SamwiseRulesAll 18 years ago

I dunno, I thought it was really important that Joe didn't emote much.

I mean I just...the impression I got was that this was sort of most of the point.

It upsets me when people think that a movie is all about being unpredictable and different. (This is irrelevant to the "Joe doesn't emote much" thing.)

[–] FizzyGillespie 19 years ago

Well...it was based on his real-life experience (actress Rebecca Schaeffer was his girlfriend...shot by a stalker). So, who knows how much was truth and how much was fiction. Anyway, I think it handles the topic grief relatively well. It's not great by any stretch of the imagination...but it's better than 95% of the *beep* that's floating around now.