There are some actors who are natural born bad guys, a real heavy, ones that just have that edginess that makes you believe that they are ready to step over the edge and do something very dangerous. I can’t say that I ever thought of Meg Ryan as that type of actress. However, that is the type of role she is cast in in the film that is the subject of today’s review, Serious Moonlight. Can she pull it off?
Film 
Serious Moonlight is a film based on a screenplay penned by Adrienne Shelly. The film stars Meg Ryan as Louise, a high powered attorney, presumably in New York, who walks in on her husband of 13 years, Ian (Timothy Hutton) as he is preparing their country home for a tryst with his 24 year old girlfriend Sara (Kristen Long). She thinks he sprinkled the home with roses for her but when she finds him in the bedroom, he tells her the truth, that he no longer loves her, is having an affair and wants to spend the weekend with his girlfriend in Paris.
Rather Than get angry at ian, Louise, bops him on the head, knocks him out and ties him to a chair with duct tape, telling him that he will stay that way until he changes her mind and loves him again. When he is able to talk his way out of the duct tape and then tries to flee, she bops him again and this time, ties him to the toilet with his pants down.
Despite her efforts to persuade him to love her again, Ian tells her that it would take intervention from above to get him to do so. It is then that divine intervention occurs when Louise leaves for the market so she can fix Ian his favorite meal. When she is gone, Ian notices a man (Justin Long) on a lawn tractor who appears to be cutting their lawn. He smacks his head on the bathroom window and gets his attention. Rather than come into the house to help him, the gardner (?) sees this as a prime time to steal their belongings. When Louise returns, he attacks her and ties her hands and feet with duct tape and locks her in the bathroom with Ian, where they or should I say, Ian, reflects on their 13 years of marriage and considers the errors of his ways.
While the basic plot has promise, the execution is lacking. Perhaps that is the fault of first time director Cheryl Hines, who is best known as Larry David’s ex on Curb Your Enthusiasm, as the pacing of the narrative really starts to lag and become repetitive. The fault also lies with the casting of Meg Ryan as Louise, who is unable to convey the sense of edginess that her character demands. You just don’t believe her in the role, try as she might. The rest of the cast is fine. Justin Long sure has the role of a wise ass down pat doesn’t he? Finally, I feel that the script really needed to be fleshed further before principal photography commenced out as it seemed to me to be a bit on the thin side, with material being stretched out and repeated for the sake of time.
There is a kernel of a fine film here and with a tweeked script and a new lead, I think you would have one. Is Serious Moonlight a bad film? Certainly not as even with all its flaws, it still has its moments. While I can’t recommend the film for a purchase, it is worth a look, but only on the basis of a rental.
Video 
While I was a bit disappointed with the overall film, I was more disappointed with the look of the image. The film was made on a limited budget and it shows. The film features a rather muted color palette and mediocre blacks. The film is also rather soft and lacking in detail. Facial detail in particular is below par with the tighter shots of Meg Ryan looking as though they had been “cleaned up” to make her look younger (I would rather that they had done something about those lips!). While I wouldn’t described the rest of the facial detail as great, there is more detail noticeable in the faces of the three other principal characters in the film. As a result of the muted colors, softness and lack of detail, the resulting image is rather flat and lifeless, lacking any degree of depth or three dimensionality and looking almost fuzzy in comparison to some of the better looking films on Blu-ray. I was expecting better, much better.
Audio
The audio on this release is just about what I expected it to be, namely, front heavy, as the film is essentially a dark comedy. While the overall fidelity is quite good, especially the film’s musical score, the sound is very front heavy, with little use of the surrounds, sounding no better than two channel stereo. On the plus side, the dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix and always clearly audible. However, if you are looking for a film with an immersive sound design and excellent dynamics, Serious Moonlight is not the film for you.
Special Features 
Not surprisingly, the extras included with this release are rather threadbare. The extras include a commentary with director Cheryl Hines and producers Andy Ostroy and Michael Roiff. A brief making of documentary is also included in standard definition featuring interviews with Cheryl Hines, Andy Ostroy, Michael Roiff, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long. Also included and in HD is another brief look at the film that appeared on HDNet, aptly entitled HDNet: A Look at Serious Moonlight. The remaining extras are series of trailers for other films produced by Magnolia Pictures. The film is BD-Live enabled but does not include a digital copy.
Final Thoughts
All-in-all, I was disappointed with the Blu-ray release of Serious Moonlight, both in terms of the actual film as well as the video presentation. Recommended as a rental only.
