Moonstruck

Good, corny fun develops when Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini (Cher) falls in love with her fiance’s brother Ronny Cammareri (Nicolas Cage). Director Norman Jewison and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley milk the New York settings, accents, and folkways for all they’re worthalthough those familiar with certain Manhattan locations may be dismayed to find them transplanted to Brooklynand the broad Italian family humor gets so thick at times that you could cut it with a bread knife. Among the adorable secondary cast are Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, Julie Bovasso, and Feodor Chaliapin Jr., but most of the show belongs to Cher and Cage, both of whom are at their energetic best. Dick Hyman is in charge of the hyperbolic music, which starts off with That’s Amore to clue us all in to what we should expect (1987). 102 min. (JR)

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