Director: Cheryl Hines
Writer: Adrienne Shelly
Producers: Andy Ostroy, Michael Roiff
Starring: Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Justin Long, Kristen Bell
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 84 min.

(2.5/5)

Adrienne Shelly had been acting and making short films for years but it was 2007’s Waitress that marked the beginning (and also the sad end) of her career as a director. Perhaps part of the reason so many people saw Waitress was because of Shelly’s untimely death but regardless of the reason, that film managed to work on its own merits; quick witted, charming and touching without lathering the sugar on too thickly (though it did occasionally come close) it was a carefully balanced, winning combination.

I remember a vague wave through Hollywood when it was announced that actress (and Shelly’s good friend) Cheryl Hines would be directing Serious Moonlight, a film based on Shelly’s last script, but that’s the last I head of the production until it came up on the DVD release schedule. Your guess on where the theatrical release went is as good as mine.

The film stars Meg Ryan as Louise, a busy body who heads out to the family cabin for a weekend getaway with her husband Ian (Timothy Hutton). She arrives a little early to find that Ian has turned their vacation home into a romantic retreat complete with rose petals but what she doesn’t immediately realise is that none of this is for her but rather for Ian’s mistress Sara (Kristen Bell). Angry and determined to keep the relationship together, Louise ties her husband up in, what I can only assume to be, a last ditch attempt to talk some sense into him. Things go from bad to worse when after a series of ugly exchanges, a stranger enters the house, knocks out Louise and ties her up in the bathroom next to her husband.

You can kind of see where this story is going. Things do go from bad to worse and end in a much too sweet happy ending which isn’t earned by the film. The problem with the film’s ending isn’t so much the script but the inadequate direction and poor acting from a cast that should really have done this great script more justice. Ryan is flat in her role as Louise and though Hutton tries hard to keep the momentum going, it’s a wasted effort and a huge blow to a film where most of the running time is spent focused on two people, one of which is unemotionally reading lines. Occasionally a spark of energy seems to erupt from Ryan but it’s simply not enough. The one shinning light in this mess is Justin Long who makes a much too short though memorable appearance as the nasty home invader.

The one saving grace of Serious Moonlight is the script which rolls from wacky (tying up your husband in an effort to save your marriage) to bitingly authentic (there are more than a handful of exchanges that will make you cringe they’re so on the ball). It’s a great testament to this script that some of the biting dialogue manages to shine through the occasionally painful delivery. The closing scene of the film raises a few questions that I would love to ponder but they would require a re-watching of the film and frankly, I don’t think I could handle Meg Ryan for 84 minutes, at least not right away.

Serious Moonlightis a disappointing adaptation of a great script, one that I would love to see either on-stage or produced with different leads, perhaps ones that are more interested in acting than showing off how their recent face lift doesn’t allow them to do anything besides smile.

Serious Moonlight is available on DVD on Tuesday, April 6th.