Touchstone and Beyond: "Moonlight Mile"

The film is a deep exploration of grief, loss, and how to survive tragedy.

Marquee Attraction: Moonlight Mile

Release Date: October 4, 2002

Budget: $21 million

Domestic Box Office Gross: $6,835,856

Worldwide Box Office Gross: $10,011,050

Plot Synopsis

Joe is mourning the loss of his fiancée Diana, who was murdered at work. He spends his days living in the home of his would be in laws Ben and Jojo, as they come to grips with what happened to Diana, and how to move forward.

As the case against Diana’s killer progresses, and Joe seems to be unable to leave Ben and Jojo, he starts a relationship with Bertie Knox. The more days pass, the harder it becomes for Joe to move on from Diana’s loss because he struggles to separate himself from Ben and Jojo. The fact that he and Diana had broken off the engagement three days prior to her death, weighs on Joe.

How does he tell Ben and Jojo what happened when the grieving parents are struggling to hold on to their last connection with their daughter.

Standing Ovation

Jake Gyllenhaal is great as Joe. He plays the depressed Joe with such skill that it is easy to connect with his character. Joe is torn between worlds, and truth, and not wanting to hurt anyone. How does one cope with the tragedy of what happened? How could Joe ever tell the truth? Gyllenhaal is perfect in the lead, and he certainly allows the audience to empathize with his emotional rollercoaster.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Ellen Pompeo have great chemistry and work well as a couple. Pompeo makes her Bertie a brilliant supporting character that could be easily miscast and poorly portrayed.

Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon are well cast in the parental roles of Ben and Jojo. They each show the anguish of grieving parents, and the irritability of a long-married couple.

Time for the Hook

Gyllenhaal’s hairstyle in the film is not good. It detracts from his age and makes him look comically younger than what he is supposed to be portraying. I know the film is a period piece, but wow, that’s one bad hairstyle.

Bit Part Player

Dabney Coleman as Mike Mulcahey. The real estate developer is perfectly played with Coleman’s typical flare for being funny but also sounding like a professional businessman who wants to make a lot of money.

Did You Know?

Susan Sarandon won a Best Supporting Actress award from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society.
Brad Silberling was nominated for Best Original Screenplay from the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association.
On its opening weekend, the film grossed over $300,000 at the box office.
The film is based on Brad Silberling’s life experience, when his girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by an obsessed fan.
When the film was completed, Silberling took a copy of the film to Oregon where he screened the movie for Shaeffer’s parents. They had extensive involvement in the film when it was created.
The title of the film comes from a Rolling Stone song.
Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, and Keanu Reeves were all considered for the part of Joe.
The death penalty is mentioned in the film, but Massachusetts didn’t have the death penalty in the 1970s.

Best Quotable Line

Bertie: “Commercial real estate, what does that mean?"

Joe: “I have no idea."\

Bill’s Hot Take

Ellen Pompeo does not get enough credit for her acting and needs to be given more projects to show her talent, beyond a certain hospital in Seattle.

Casting Call

Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe Nast
Dustin Hoffman as Ben
Susan Sarandon as Jojo
Holly Hunter as Mona Camp
Ellen Pompeo as Bertie Knox

Production Team

Directed by Brad Silberling

Produced by Touchstone Pictures / Hyde Park Entertainment / Reveal Entertainment

Written by Brad Silberling

My Critical Response

{Snub-Skip this Film, Lifeboat Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, Commuter Comforter-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Jaw Dropper- You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Rosebud Award- This Film is Cinema.}

Moonlight Mile is a good film that has its moments of heart and emotion that illicit the audience to really connect with the story. The narrative feels contrived, with some moments of wonder, and questionable choices for the movement of the story.

The fact that the movie is inspired by the tragedy of what happened to Rebecca Shaeffer gives the film merit. As much as the film tends to explore and abandon plot points, like Holly Hunter’s district attorney role, it’s the relationship between Hoffman, Sarandon, and Gyllenhaal.

These three are the core of the film, and their interactions is what makes the movie so heartfelt and real. Grieving the loss of someone so close, is not easy, and leaves the emotional scar of the people. This is evident throughout Moonlight Mile.

For a quality cast dealing with a tough story of loss, Moonlight Mile gets the Rosebud Award. The movie is not Citizen Kane but the fact the movie exists tells audiences that at one point Disney would swing for the fences with their big screen releases and not just rely on IP properties.

Coming Soon

Next week, a look back at Indian Summer.