The rom-com to end all rom-coms, Moonstruck (1987) unites family drama with a passionate, fairy-tale love story. Cher gives an Oscar-winning performance as widowed Loretta, a woman engaged to sincere-but-boring mama’s boy Johnny (Danny Aiello). Loretta hopes a traditional wedding will offset her bad luck, but that requires the presence of Johnny’s estranged brother (Nicholas Cage in an unforgettable performance), a baker and zealous opera fan who will turn her stable world upside-down.  

Juxtaposed against Loretta’s whirlwind romance are the cautionary tales of her Italian-American parents, who are exploring love’s complexities at a different stage of life. The romance and passion of the narrative combine with Dick Hyman’s score, which is complimented by music from Dean Martin and Puccini.  

Our seminar will examine how these operatic elements help to explore some of the film’s central themes, including the conflicting powers of fate and choice, the clash of obligation and passion, and how our models of love shape our own romantic choices. While this film employs many romantic comedy tropes, it also delivers some of the most sincere lines in the genre’s history, thanks to the Oscar-winning screenplay by John Patrick Shanley. The seminar will explore how these production aspects work with and against our expectations of the film as a romantic comedy.