Serious Moonlight
Serious Moonlight Image
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Metascore
36 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 16 Critics What's this?

User Score
4.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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  • Starring: Kristen Bell, Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton
  • Summary: After she arrives at her country home for a romantic weekend getaway, things don't go exactly as planned for high-powered Manhattan lawyer Louise. First, her husband of 13 years, Ian, tells her that he's leaving her for a younger woman. Then, one thing leads to another, and pretty soon Ian finds himself held captive by an oddly cool Louise who explains that she won't release him until he professes his love for her and commits to working on their marriage. And that's when things REALLY start to go wrong. The unexpected arrival of an opportunistic young gardener and Ian's impatient mistress only serve to complicate the crisis even further, while somehow forcing Louise and Ian to reckon with their past and realistically deal with their future. (Magnolia Pictures)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 16
  3. Negative: 5 out of 16
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Doris Toumarkine
    70
    Overall, "Moonlight" is a nuttily engaging tale of betrayal and, perhaps, redemption.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    50
    There's a lot of yelling, cracking wise, and cooing in this creepy rom-com.
  3. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    50
    More strident than funny, the film illustrates that old French proverb, "Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside desperate to get out."
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    33
    The bitter comedy Serious Moonlight is meant to be both funny and painful, but manages only the latter.

See all 16 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. hoops2448
    6
    Serious Moonlight is not what I expected at all, in both a good and a bad way. The title itself is still a mystery to me but the rest of the film is a little bit simplistic. The story is one of Louise (Meg Ryan) and Ian (Timothy Hutton), an unhappily married couple who have sort of an odd weekend. It starts with Louise surprising Ian for the weekend at their summer house while he is writing a letter about how he is about to leave her. Ian plucks up the courage to tell her and she responds by knocking him out and tying him to a chair with ducktape. The story continues from there in a play like fashion with there being grand sweeping statements, outlandish actions that can only be pulled off on the stage. Ryan and Hutton are joined from time to time by Ian's mistress Sara (Kristen Bell) and a gardener named Todd (Justin Long) who manage to infuse some comedy into the incredibly depressing proceedings of the first half. In fact the best part of Moonlight is that it turns itself on its head halfway and becomes much more enjoyable with a much more agreeable tone. The tone of the first half is going for black comedy but the comedy is stale and the idea that yelling (which Hutton does for most of the first half) can be found funny is beyond me. The second half however is lively, clever (in places), fun and most of all, its funny. Ryan even manages to fit in some physical comedy despite the obvious restrictions in both the script and the setting. Overall its a film that needed a more skilled hand then a first time director (Cheryl Hines) and the script felt more like a draft than a finished product despite the fact it had some brilliantly funny moments towards the end. The acting is good, if not great at times with Ryan and Hutton having great chemistry and some nice comic timing (despite all the yelling.) its just a shame about the first half.… Collapse

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