Moonlight Mile **** (2002, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon) – Classic Movie Review 1736

Co-producer/writer/director Brad Silberling’s 2002 drama stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe Nast. The young man’s fiancée dies, leaving him distraught and forced to help console her fragile parents, Josephine and Ben Floss (Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman) when he is asked to move in with them. Then he becomes attracted to another young woman, Bertie Knox (Ellen Pompeo), who consoles him.

Brilliant acting lifts this sensitive, delicate and life-affirming tearjerker way up high. Gyllenhaal is superb throughout, but Sarandon and especially Hoffman also enjoy outstanding moments in the movie.

Holly Hunter, Alexia Landeau, Richard Messing, Dabney Coleman, Allan Corduner, Richard Fancy and Mary Ellen Trainor co-star.

Moonlight Mile is a Mick Jagger-Keith Richards song. There was a controversy in the UK press about the use of disgraced pop star Gary Glitter’s Rock and Roll Part 2 on the soundtrack.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1736

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