Unoriginal And Predictable
I first saw this movie when it was shown on commercial TV in the early 1990s. I wasn't particularly impressed by it at the time. As I often do with certain films that don't immediately strike my fancy, I gave it another chance when I watched it on a certain cable channel about 20 years later. Same impression.
I have it one more chance when Turner Classic Movies showed it last night and my opinion didn't change.
The story focuses on three young women, two sisters and a life-long friend, who are about to take their first steps into adulthood. All of them work as waitresses in the local pizza restaurant, the name of which giving the movie its title.
One of them (played by Lili Taylor) is a bride whose wedding is cancelled or, at least, postponed when she faints during the ceremony. The younger sister (Annabeth Gish) has academic aspirations, having won a scholarship to Yale to study astronomy. The other sister (Julia Roberts) seems to be aimless and doesn't appear to have decided what she wants to do.
Now that those details were established, the rest of MP becomes easy to guess. "Coming of age" was a common theme in movies, so one can easily figure out what'll happen to those characters.
The bride and the man she was slated to marry (Vincent D'Onofrio, who was a bit hard to recognize after losing weight and growing hair since his well-known role as Pvt. Leonard Lawrence--nicknamed Private Pyle--in his earlier film "Full Metal Jacket") spend the rest of the movie sorting out their future marital plans, including some "previews", if you know what I mean.
The younger sister takes a part-time babysitting job looking after the young daughter of a man whose wife is, presumably, out of the country. There are hints that their marriage might be in trouble. I leave it for the reader to figure out what that leads to.
The older sister is chatted up by a Porsche-driving poor little rich kid who doesn't really know what do with himself, either. That eventually leads to conflicts involving different social classes. (Rich boy dating a girl from the wrong side of the tracks...... not exactly a new idea, is it?)
All three of the threads come to their inevitable conclusions and that's where the movie ends. (Yawn!)
On the whole, MP is completely forgettable. It's only in hindsight that it may be interesting when one considers who was in it and what each of those actors did afterward. I already mentioned Vincent D'Onofrio. Most notably, I think, is that this is an early movie for Julia Roberts. Previously, she had a guest spot in an episode of "Miami Vice" and her career was about to take off. The following year, she was in "Steel Magnolias" and, soon after that, "Pretty Woman", which might be considered her breakout film.
The owner of Mystic Pizza was played by Conchata Farrell. She and Ms. Roberts would work together again in the movie "Erin Brockovich". Also, watch for a very young Matt Damon in the dinner scene.
"Mystic Pizza" strikes me as the type of movie one would see as part of a Saturday night outing with friends. Aside from that, it's largely forgettable.
I have it one more chance when Turner Classic Movies showed it last night and my opinion didn't change.
The story focuses on three young women, two sisters and a life-long friend, who are about to take their first steps into adulthood. All of them work as waitresses in the local pizza restaurant, the name of which giving the movie its title.
One of them (played by Lili Taylor) is a bride whose wedding is cancelled or, at least, postponed when she faints during the ceremony. The younger sister (Annabeth Gish) has academic aspirations, having won a scholarship to Yale to study astronomy. The other sister (Julia Roberts) seems to be aimless and doesn't appear to have decided what she wants to do.
Now that those details were established, the rest of MP becomes easy to guess. "Coming of age" was a common theme in movies, so one can easily figure out what'll happen to those characters.
The bride and the man she was slated to marry (Vincent D'Onofrio, who was a bit hard to recognize after losing weight and growing hair since his well-known role as Pvt. Leonard Lawrence--nicknamed Private Pyle--in his earlier film "Full Metal Jacket") spend the rest of the movie sorting out their future marital plans, including some "previews", if you know what I mean.
The younger sister takes a part-time babysitting job looking after the young daughter of a man whose wife is, presumably, out of the country. There are hints that their marriage might be in trouble. I leave it for the reader to figure out what that leads to.
The older sister is chatted up by a Porsche-driving poor little rich kid who doesn't really know what do with himself, either. That eventually leads to conflicts involving different social classes. (Rich boy dating a girl from the wrong side of the tracks...... not exactly a new idea, is it?)
All three of the threads come to their inevitable conclusions and that's where the movie ends. (Yawn!)
On the whole, MP is completely forgettable. It's only in hindsight that it may be interesting when one considers who was in it and what each of those actors did afterward. I already mentioned Vincent D'Onofrio. Most notably, I think, is that this is an early movie for Julia Roberts. Previously, she had a guest spot in an episode of "Miami Vice" and her career was about to take off. The following year, she was in "Steel Magnolias" and, soon after that, "Pretty Woman", which might be considered her breakout film.
The owner of Mystic Pizza was played by Conchata Farrell. She and Ms. Roberts would work together again in the movie "Erin Brockovich". Also, watch for a very young Matt Damon in the dinner scene.
"Mystic Pizza" strikes me as the type of movie one would see as part of a Saturday night outing with friends. Aside from that, it's largely forgettable.
- quarterwavevertical
- Oct 20, 2024