Serious Moonlight - solid first effort from Cheryl Hines

.: Thanks to a tip from a friend, I had the good fortune of seeing Serious Moonlight on Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival. The screenplay was written by the late Adrienne Shelly, who wrote and directed Waitress before her untimely passing in 2006. The film was directed by Cheryl Hines, who had worked with Shelly on the movie Waitress.

Serious Moonlight follows four characters: Timothy Hutton and Meg Ryan are a 40-something married couple who live in a large house on an acreage outside of small town ostensibly somewhere in upstate NY. Thinking his wife is away for another day, Hutton spreads flowers and rose petals throughout his house in anticipation of the arrival of his much younger mistress (Bell) before leaving with her the next morning on a plane for Paris. He has begun to write a Dear John note to Ryan when she suddenly arrives home, much to his surprise and utter disbelief.

A series of events leads to him being duck-taped to a chair, and then after he "escapes" from that predicament, being duck-taped again, this time to the toilet. Meanwhile, Ryan, who has met and dismissed Bell (while confessing to be "ok" with her presence in his life, etc etc), who arrived to be with Hutton, takes off to run errands in the town. While she is gone, Long appears, riding a lawn mower, and hears Hutton banging his head against the bathroom window. He goes to the bathroom, a kerchief around his face, and proceeds to rob Hutton. Hilarity and confusion ensues when Ryan returns, followed by Bell.

For a first time director, I thought Cheryl Hines really pulled this off nicely. A suspension of disbelief is required to be sure. Can Ryan really convince Hutton to stay with her? Is he really going to dump her and leave with a woman 20 years younger. Has Ryan really been in the dark about an affair that Hutton has had that has been ongoing for months if not longer? That said, the perfomances are convincing, and Long somehow makes you believe he can be a really nasty piece of work. The film alternates between laughs and at times sadness and reflection. Not to be taken too seriously, it worked for me. I wanted to see these characters somehow resolve their differences and move on. The film also has something of a gentle feel underlying it, something I find diffcult to articulate any other way.

I can't say anything about the ending other than to suggest you see it and decide for yourself what happened.

Congratulations to Cheryl Hines! The day after I saw her movie, I had the incredible good fortune of meeting her at a comedy club and talking with her and one of the movie's producers, Andy Ostroy, about the movie. I asked her how she came to direct the movie, and she told me that Andy, who was married to Shelly, took the script to her and suggested she direct the movie. Clearly this was an inspired move, as evidenced by the final product. I can also confirm that Cheryl Hines is every bit as warm and charming in person as she appears on screen. I was blown away by her kindness in taking time to speak to me, a stranger, about the movie and the stories behind it. I look forward to more of her work behind the camera.

For those who may be interested, Andy Ostroy created the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, to help women pursue their dreams of filmmaking. Details can be found here:

http://www.adrienneshellyfoundation.org/