Moonlight and Valentino

views updated

Moonlight and Valentino ★★ 1995 (R)

To help her recover from the death of her husband, Rebecca turns to the comfort of flaky neighbor Sylvie (Goldberg), self-destructive sis Lucy (Paltrow), and overbearing ex-stepmother Alberta (Turner). Together they sit around and talk some of the more contrived and cliched “women talk” (“Chicken soup is the most womanly thing on the face of the planet”) in recent film history. The finale, a hokey ritual in a cemetery, will have you pulling out hair rather than hankies. Rock star Bon Jovi makes his screen debut as the beefcake (discussion of his butt takes up about two-thirds of the dialogue) who puts the fire back into Rebecca's life. Not for the estrogen impaired. 104m/C VHS, DVD . Elizabeth Perkins, Whoopi Goldberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kathleen Turner, Jon Bon Jovi, Jeremy Sisto, Josef Sommer, Peter Coyote; D: David Anspaugh; W: Ellen Simon; C: Julio Macat; M: Howard Shore.