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'Serious Moonlight' Is Seriously Flawed
21 December 2009 9:25 PM, PST
| CinemaSpy
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Short but certainly not sweet, this 84-minute black comedy probably wouldn't make good date-night viewing, unless a break-up was on the agenda as well. It's a mean-spirited meditation on marriage gone wrong, but worse than that, it's simply a bad film and a poor legacy for its talented screenwriter.
Hal Hartley favorite Adrienne Shelly was killed in 2006, just months before the release of her directorial debut, Waitress, which she also wrote. The script for Serious Moonlight was left behind after her death, and her husband, Andy Ostroy, sought to bring the project to the screen. Shelly's Waitress co-star Cheryl Hines makes her own directorial debut, but even her solid cast can't save this film from feeling unpolished and unfinished.
Meg Ryan (The Women) stars as Louise, a high-powered attorney who takes a break from her busy city life to relax at her country home with her husband, Ian (Timothy Hutton,
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Interview: Cheryl Hines Talks Directing 'Serious Moonlight'
21 December 2009 9:15 PM, PST
| CinemaSpy
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Though she's best known for playing Larry David's wife on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cheryl Hines got her start with The Groundlings, the famed improv group that produced such talents as Will Ferrell and Phil Hartman. That experience prepared her for Curb's largely unscripted comedy, but it also was an unexpected education for her new role as the director of the black comedy Serious Moonlight (read my review here). CinemaSpy participated in an interview with the actress about her transition to working behind the camera.
Hines' first surprise was being offered the job of directing the film. Serious Moonlight began as a script from Hines' director and costar in Waitress, Adrienne Shelly. In late 2006, Shelly was killed, leaving the finished Waitress and several scripts behind, including Serious Moonlight. The screenplay centers on Louise, a lawyer who is surprised to find her husband Ian is having an affair with a young woman.
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Josh Goldin's Wonderful World
21 December 2009 4:11 AM, PST
| TribecaFilm.com
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In Wonderful World, which premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, Matthew Broderick stars as Ben Singer, a misanthropic pot-smoking single dad whose only friend is his Senegalese roommate Ibu, played by Michael K. Williams (The Wire, The Road). When Ibu falls ill, his beautiful sister Khadi (Sanaa Lathan) comes to visit and Ben finds his worldview slowly shifting.
Tribeca sat down with Wonderful World writer and director Josh Goldin recently, where he talked about working with his longtime friend Broderick, chipping away at negativity, and his upcoming project with Jay Baruchel. Goldin's unnamed movie, which stars Baruchel as a stand-up comic in love, will be produced by Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa (Little Miss Sunshine, Little Children, Hamlet 2) and Danielle Renfrew (Waitress). Goldin wrote the script and will also direct.
Tribeca Film: You wrote on the Huffington Post that the character of Ben is a combination of
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Serious Moonlight a Dim Effort
4 December 2009 12:52 PM, PST
| newser.com
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When Waitress writer-director Adrienne Shelly was murdered, in 2006, she left behind the script for Serious Moonlight . Critics speculate that she might have made it work, but that hasn't happened: "A wife duct-tapes her husband to a chair and tells him that she will make him fall in love with her again (and if she doesn't, she'll never set him free)," Mick Lasalle summarizes in the San Francisco Chronicle . "The banter is insufferable. The situation is frustrating. Audiences may begin to feel as if they're duct-taped to a chair." "In essence," Sam Adams writes for the Onion Av Club , " Serious
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Review: Serious Moonlight
4 December 2009 3:55 AM, PST
| WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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Timothy Hutton spends most of Serious Moonlight, an irritating new comedy from director Cheryl Hines, duct-taped to a toilet. Serious Moonlight is 84 excruciating minutes of sub-sitcom dialogue, grating characters and a whole lot of shouting and I felt as though I was duct-taped to my theatre seat forced to watch the most labored, obnoxious movie I’ve sat through all year. Serious Moonlight is not interestingly odious, excitingly embarrassing, or cultishly screwed-up. It’s just dull, claustrophobic, and worst of all – never for a moment funny. Seriously.
Serious Moonlight begins when high-powered attorney Louise (Meg Ryan) arrives home early to surprise husband of 13 years Ian (Hutton) and finds flower petals strewn about the house. The romantic gesture is not for her but in anticipation of a visit by Ian’s much younger mistress, Sara (Kristen Bell), whom he expects to whisk off to Paris the next day and propose marriage.
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- Tom
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Review | Gag Order: Cheryl Hines’s “Serious Moonlight”
3 December 2009 8:53 AM, PST
| IndieWIRE
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The enormous groundswell of sympathy and support surrounding the release of Adrienne Shelly’s “Waitress” blinded most viewers to its clear deficiencies. It might be unfair to conjecture what the critical reception for the good-natured if contrived and shabbily visualized romantic comedy might have been if actress-turned-director Shelly hadn’t been horrifically murdered before its release, but it’s safe to assume the processed-cheesy Keri Russell vehicle wouldn’t have been the subject of quite …
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'Up In The Air,' 'Serious Moonlight' and 'Loot' In This Week's unLimited
1 December 2009 10:00 AM, PST
| MTV Movies Blog
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Now that December is upon us, you can expect to hear about a lot of new releases you probably won't be able to see right away, unless you happen to live in a major market. Unfortunately, this is how it goes with films vying for year-end awards notice. Some of these hopeful contenders will show up at your multiplex around Christmas, when the marquee will be filled with so many new releases your head is likely to spin. Others will expand in January, and still others won't go wide until the Oscar nominations are announced on February 2. Meanwhile, we'll continue to see some titles released that don't have the benefit of an Oscar campaign and some that don't have the qualifying status to warrant such promotion.
This week's unLimited features a sure-thing Oscar contender, a dark comedy unlikely to be considered for any honors and a documentary that isn't qualified
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- Christopher Campbell
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Watch: Serious Moonlight
30 November 2009 6:00 AM, PST
| TribecaFilm.com
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Note: This interview with Cheryl Hines was originally published as a Faces of the Festival piece during the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. We wanted to repost in time for Serious Moonlight's December theatrical release.
Funny lady Cheryl Hines makes her debut as a director with the '09 Festival pick Serious Moonlight, a dark comedy about infidelity and commitment starring Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, and Kristen Bell. Filming a script by Adrienne Shelly (the writer/director of Waitress), Hines brings her impeccable comic timing to this ever-so-human mix of a romantic comedy. We got the comedienne on the phone to talk about the transition from acting to directing and lots more.
Tribeca Film: What makes Serious Moonlight a Tribeca Must-See?
Ch: The performances in the film are great, the story is fun to watch, and... I don't know! I'm not good at selling myself! You'll have a good time watching it,
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2009 Austin Film Festival Wrap-up
17 November 2009 12:18 PM, PST
| SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
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The 16th annual Austin Film Festival opened with a true screenwriting gem, Serious Moonlight. Penned by the late Adrienne Shelley around the same time she created Waitress – Shelley was murdered shortly after wrapping Waitress, before she had the opportunity to direct Serious Moonlight. I loved Waitress, and have been a fan of Adrienne Shelley since seeing her act in Hal Hartley’s The Unbelievable Truth and Trust.
Serious Moonlight | Review
"...the script is chock-full of clever Hitchcockian twists along with a impeccably strong (and mysterious) conclusion. Serious Moonlight is very conservatively directed by first-timer Cheryl Hines (who acted in Waitress with Shelley)."
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I have long been curious about C.D. Payne’s 1993 epistolary novel Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp, and unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to read it prior to the Aff screening of Miguel Arteta’s film. Nonetheless, into the Paramount I went…
I must
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- Don Simpson
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Serious Moonlight | Review
16 November 2009 8:02 AM, PST
| SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
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Director: Cheryl Hines
Writer(s): Adrienne Shelly
Starring: Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristin Bell, Justin Long
Serious Moonlight begins with Ian (Timothy Hutton) as he travels to a quaint vacation home in the country. Where Ian is going, people leave items for sale alone by the side of the road with the unwavering trust that their customers will leave the proper cash on the table in exchange for the goods; and the inhabitants of the town leave their doors unlocked even when they are not home. (Other than in the movies, do places like this still exist?)
Ian purposefully arrives a day earlier than his wife, Louise (Meg Ryan), in order to rendezvous with his youthful mistress Sara (Kristen Bell) for a trip to Paris. Ian plans on being halfway to Paris before Louise arrives – he intends to leave a note behind for Louise to break off their marriage.
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- Don Simpson
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Sliff 2009 Review: Under Still Waters
12 November 2009 4:00 PM, PST
| WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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There is slow burn, and then there is no burn, that type of film that keeps making you think something, anything, is about to happen. Sometimes, if it is done poorly, a no burn film will tease you so hard that a big plot turn is coming just around the corner that it becomes obvious that no twist is coming. Fortunately, Carolyn Miller’s thriller Under Still Waters does offer that elusive twist. Sometime does occur in the film to make all the tantalizing and smoke generating seemingly worth while. However, it takes some time to get to that point, and, by the time it does, the film has fallen so far into no burn territory that it’s hard to recover.
Lake Bell and Jason Clarke play Charlie and Andrew, respectively, a young couple who are trying to work through their issues. Charlie’s father is a very powerful and very rich man,
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- Kirk
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Holiday Preview: Anywhere But a Movie Theater
4 November 2009 11:14 AM, PST
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More Holiday Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]
[Repertory Calendar] [Anywhere But a Movie Theater]
On Demand
IFC Films (with whom, full disclosure, we obviously share a parent company) will be delivering new films all holiday season to homes across the country through their Festival Direct and Sundance Selects labels. These include the cross-cultural romantic dramedy "I'll Come Running" (Nov. 4), Josiane Balasko's farce "A French Gigolo" (Nov. 6), the Inuit tribal drama "Necessities of Life" (Nov. 11), the Brit crime thriller "Adulthood" (Nov. 18), the Indian love story "Return to Rajapur" (Nov. 25), the Christopher Masterson-Bijou Phillips celibacy satire "Made for Each Other" (Dec. 2), "Harry Potter" helmer David Yates' gritty two-part drama "Sex Traffic" (Dec. 2 and 9), the Korean comedy "Night and Day" (Dec. 23) and "The Ghost" (Dec. 30).
Meanwhile, in the newly launched Sundance Selects series, there's a pair of harrowing documentaries VOD premieres: Kief Davidson's coming-of-age boxing doc "Kassim the Dream" (Nov. 27) and the unvarnished biopic "Nick Nolte: No Exit" (Dec.
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- Stephen Saito
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Aff Review: Serious Moonlight
29 October 2009 6:32 PM, PDT
| Cinematical
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The first thing everyone seems to mention about Serious Moonlight is that its screenplay is the last one written by the late Adrienne Shelly. Actress Cheryl Hines, who had a role in Shelly's film Waitress, is making her feature directorial debut with the dark comedy, which stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton. The movie opened Austin Film Festival this year. It sounds like a sure-fire comedy, but unfortunately it just left me with a headache.
Serious Moonlight focuses on a married couple, Louise (Meg Ryan) and Ian (Timothy Hutton), who are supposed to meet in their country house for a rendezvous, but both arrive a day early. Louise wants to surprise her husband, but finds out that he also has a surprise: he's leaving her. She refuses to accept this, and ends up cracking him on the head with a vase, binding him with duct tape, and refusing to let
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- Jette Kernion
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Cheryl Hines Tells Letterman About Directing Her First Film, the Adrienne Shelly-Penned Serious Moonlight
28 October 2009 6:50 PM, PDT
| Huffington Post
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Cheryl Hines is a real sweetheart. One of the truly nicest people you'll ever meet. She's also wickedly funny, and a talented first-time director who stepped into a very challenging role two years ago in helming a deliciously dark comedy penned by my late wife Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed and co-starred in 2007's hit film Waitress. Adrienne wrote Serious Moonlight as her follow-up to Waitress, and was in development with it at the time of her tragic death November 1, 2006. I teamed with Waitress producer Michael Roiff to get the film made.
Serious Moonlight is about a troubled marriage on the precipice, centering on a high-powered female attorney who learns that her husband is about to leave her for a much younger woman, and holds him captive until he promises to stay with her and love her forever.
Taking on
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- Andy Ostroy
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'Serious Moonlight' at Aff Opening Night
24 October 2009 8:50 AM, PDT
| Slackerwood
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On Thursday night, Austin Film Festival screened its opening-night movie, Serious Moonlight, at the Paramount. Director Cheryl Hines, pictured above, attended the screening and held a Q&A afterwards. The movie stars Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long, and was written by the late Adrienne Shelly (Waitress).
A number of film-pass holders were lined up for the film -- it turned out to be a good-sized audience, but everyone was able to get in.
read more
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- Jette Kernion
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Meg Ryan Does Misery in Serious Moonlight Trailer
21 October 2009 9:30 AM, PDT
| Movieline
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Serious Moonlight is supposed to be a light-hearted comedy, but it's got long odds. First, there's the unlikely premise: Meg Ryan duct-tapes cheating husband Timothy Hutton to the toilet until she can force him to fall back in love with her. Then, there's the side-story of loss, as Serious Moonlight is based on a script by Adrienne Shelly, who was brutally murdered before her film Waitress was scooped up at Sundance in 2007.
And finally, there's one other thing. And I think you know what that thing is.
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Meg Ryan Goes for Comedy in 'Serious Moonlight'
18 October 2009 5:31 PM, PDT
| The Wrap
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By Wrap Staff
"Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Cheryl Hines makes her feature directing debut with "Serious Moonlight" from Magnolia Pictures.
With a script by Adrienne Shelly ("Waitress"), the film will debut via video-on-demand on Nov. 6, followed by a theatrical release starting Dec. 4.
In the romantic comedy, high-powered lawyer Louise arrives at her family's country house expecting a romantic getaway with her husband (Timothy Hutton). Unfortunately, he's expecting his much younger girlfriend (Kristen Bell). In a sort of "Misery" meets "The Ref"
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- Lisa Horowitz
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Trailer - 'Serious Moonlight' Looks Seriously Flawed
18 October 2009 1:55 PM, PDT
| GetTheBigPicture.net
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Did you know that "some threatening behavior" is a reason to give a film a R rating? And would you suspect a movie written by the late Adrienne Shelly (Waitress) and directed by Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines would have that ratings board warning hanging over its head?
The movie is Serious Moonlight, and it stars Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, and Kristen Bell as points along a bizarre love triangle. It played the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year and will be released in December. I loved Waitress; it's one of the better films from 2007. This, though, does not look any good at all.
I'm sure there was a point where Meg Ryan was convincing, but that time seems to have passed. I mean, even in these little moments in the trailer, she seems completely disconnected with the material. The unfortunate thing in this case is that Ryan's the selling point,
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- Colin Boyd
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A Trailer for Adrienne Shelly's 'Serious Moonlight'
16 October 2009 6:33 PM, PDT
| Cinematical
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Time flies... We're rapidly approaching the third anniversary of Adrienne Shelly's death. Although she spent almost twenty years in the business, Shelly was killed just as her career reached an inspiring new level with Waitress, the sweetly effective story of a woman and creative pie-maker coming to terms with the fact that she's having a child with the husband she hates. Shelly left behind a number of unfinished projects, one of which was Serious Moonlight, a film that Waitress co-star Cheryl Hines took over in her memory.
Almost two years after that news hit, we've finally got a trailer courtesy of Yahoo. (You can see it after the jump.) I'm happy to say that Shelly's vision and personality are immediately visible in the trailer. You could almost close your eyes and imagine what she would have done with it. However, I can't figure out whether it's the casting that I'm having a problem with,
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- Monika Bartyzel
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Meg Ryan in 'Serious Moonlight' trailer: Seriously?
16 October 2009 9:15 AM, PDT
| EW.com - PopWatch
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Meg Ryan has officially entered The First Wives Club chapter of her career. One year after starring as a spurned wife in the disappointing remake of The Women, she's the lead in Serious Moonlight, opposite Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell, and Justin Long. Hutton plays her cheating husband, and when she discovers his affair with Bell, she ties him to the toilet until he falls back in love with her.
The film, due in December, is equally notable for its writer and director. The late Adrienne Shelly (Waitress) penned the script, and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines receives her first directing credit.
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- Jeff Labrecque
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