Vonia
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Director: Donald Petrie
Watched: April 2018
8/10 {Clue: An individual claiming supernatural powers or Where you can find a quaint Slice of Heaven} Might you be wondering why this romantic comedy rises above the rest (pizza making pun intended)? Young girls coming of age with all around commendable performances (pre-Hollywood Julia Roberts & did you spot Matt Damon?), Scenes that make you laugh, cry, or sing along ("The Fireside Gourmet", Kat's first introduction to the pain of love, Aretha's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T"), Their stories feels genuine, without using sex or violence for cheap entertainment (Kat's love for astronomy, Jojo's cold feet, the Arujos' sibling rivalry, Charles's insecurities with law school and wealthy family), Inventive situational or character comedy rather than the typical sophomoric or slapstick kind ("I fucked up," "... but you gave it a 100% effort!"; "What the hell do you think Leona really puts in that pizza?"), Community easy to fall in love with (Who wouldn't want to live in a town charmingly named Mystic, Connecticut?) Acrostic is a form of poetry where the first letters in each line, paragraph, or word are doubly used to spell a name, phrase, or word. The word "acrostic" comes from the Greek words "akros" (outermost) and "stichos" (line of verse). Read the appropriate letters in the poem vertically to reveal the extra message, called the "acrostich"!
Mike Stolyarov
"There are forty kinds of lunacy but only one kind of common sense" - a proverb says. It appears that, similarly to modern politics, today's cinema tends to be polluted by aberrations of a certain kind - the aggressive, pervasive, and loud extremes representing a nasty insult to the common sense. Moreover, the once distinct line between the mainstream and the extreme appears to have blurred. Many mainstream movies can now be considered to be extreme in a certain sense while independent movies have grown so numerous, popular, well-organized, and influential that they managed to successfully form their own local "mainstream".On one end of the specter reside many of the popular mainstream movies. Being predominately designed for the viewers with the mental capacity of a twelve year old and the moral awareness of Pinocchio before he became a boy, these are intellectual disasters and moral failures also lacking logic, vision, imagination, authenticity, good taste and all the remaining qualities of a decent movie.On the other end, often obscure, pretentious, artificial, abstract, and whimsical, independent movies nowadays can be just as unsubstantial and inauthentic as most mainstream movies are. "Mystic pizza" - not a perfect movie by any means - comes across as naturally enjoyable, funny, emotional, and captivating precisely because it deals with the real life issues familiar to most people. It resides in the real world on planet Earth and not in one of the superficial, artificially enhanced imaginary universes that serve homes to so many movies, both mainstream and independent.Secondly, "Mystic pizza" is a rare case of a movie that offers a good message without being forceful, contentious, or didactic. Just by telling its simple but touching and engaging coming of age story of three likable girls with all the challenges that they face, choices that they make, and mistakes that they learn on, "Mystic pizza" manages to unobtrusively deliver a few simple life truths that appear to be easily discounted and overlooked by both mainstream and independent cinema. I think it never hurts to be reminded of such timeless truths as "true love is inseparable from honesty, commitment, and sacrifice", "an affair is morally wrong, painful, and destructive", or "hard work brings you dignity that money cannot buy".The three blue-collar girls from a small New England town of Mystic – genuine, hardworking, responsible, caring, strong and independent but overall respectful to their parents could serve as a positive role model for many modern teens. Unfortunately, the girls from the movie also represent a stark contrast to the ever-increasing number of self-obsessed, lazy, spoiled, irresponsible, immature young adults, who appear to be unprepared for the real world challenges and somehow end up being both hopelessly dependent on their parents and disrespectful to them at the same time.In 1989, "Mystic pizza" earned a well-deserved Independent Spirit award for the Best First Feature. The movie still remains among the best works of its writer Amy Holden Jones and its director Donald Petrie who have both gone mainstream since then. Amy Holden Jones is now mostly known for the "Beethoven" franchise, whereas Donald Petrie seems to have been recently focusing on the quite lightweight, purely entertaining formulaic comedies like "Miss Congeniality", "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", or "My Life in Ruins".In addition to the good story and the solid directing, "Mystic pizza" offers almost perfect casting and generally strong acting, both ensemble and individual. The movie happens to be one of the first full-length features with Julia Roberts (Daisy Arujo). Right from the beginning, it becomes clear that Ms. Roberts has a remarkable talent – something that she successfully proved in many movies that followed.Annabeth Gish and Lili Taylor were charming and convincing in the roles of the two other teen girls - Kat Arujo and Jojo. Vincent D'Onofrio delivered a strong supporting performance as Jojo's fiancé Bill - a simple (but not an ordinary) fisherman. Adam Storke was able to find all the right accents for the role of the carefree and easygoing rich kid Charles Gordon Windsor, Jr., Daisy's love interest. Joanna Merlin was perfect in a small role of Mrs. Arujo - Kat's and Daisy's wise hardworking mother.Despite being rated "R" (mostly because of some language and sensuality), "Mystic pizza" seems to feature less questionable or offensive content than many of the more recent "PG-13" movies. It is a good chick-flick and a good date movie. It is also one of those movies that might be worth watching together with your high school age kids as a good illustration to the difficult choices that they will soon (or might already) be facing, conflicting feelings that they will soon (or might already) be experiencing, and hard decisions that they will soon (or might already) be making.knowyourmovie.blogspot.com
bkoganbing
If Mystic Pizza had been done back in the day of the studio system I can see Jack Warner thinking of this as a perfect story for the Lane Sisters. It does have the feel of Four Daughters albeit with a little more frank sexuality.Sisters Julia Roberts and Annabeth Gish and their friend Lili Taylor are the waitstaff of the best pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut, titled of course Mystic Pizza. Their employer Conchata Ferrall has a secret sauce that she puts on her product that's the talk of the town and several surrounding counties. Ferrall's big ambition is to have her place reviewed and rated by a snooty gourmet critic with a New England based television show, Louis Turenne.All three girls have men problems and all have different endings in their encounter. Lili Taylor can't believe that she's really got it all in Vincent Donofrio, it seems to good to be true. Julia Roberts gets herself involved with preppy Adam Storke who is out slumming with friends and ends up at her watering hole where she proceeds to take him and friends at billiards. And Annabeth Gish takes a job babysitting for William R. Moses while his wife is away and ends up falling for him.Although Mystic Pizza was Julia Roberts breakout role, I think the story of Gish and Moses is the best one. The affair is largely a product of Gish's misplaced expectations and Moses is too human to resist taking advantage of the situation. All three women end up wiser and really none the worse for the experiences.Mystic Pizza is a nice old fashioned kind of film with some really good parts for women and should be a testament to those who are writing roles for women when it is complained there aren't enough. For that matter there aren't enough roles period for all the talent out there.
