Rating summary
Movie | | 4.0 |
Video | | 4.0 |
Audio | | 3.0 |
Extras | | 0.0 |
Overall | | 3.5 |
Mystic Pizza Blu-ray Movie Review
Girls Just Wanna Grow Up
Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 27, 2011
An influential woman in my life once observed that most coming-of-age films are about boys.
Female versions are the exception, which is why good ones, when they get made, tend to have
staying power. Of course, it never hurts when one of your film's leads goes on to become a huge
star, as Mystic Pizza's Julia Roberts did two years later in Pretty Woman. But even if Roberts had
never made another film, Mystic Pizza would still hold up, because it's sharply written, skillfully
directed, and performed with an emphasis on character that studios were already in the process of
abandoning (and the independent cinema movement hadn't yet developed to salvage). The best
way to watch Mystic Pizza today isn't so much as an early Roberts film (though, Julia-haters
beware, all the trademark gestures are already in place) as an unlikely ensemble piece in which
three working class friends on the cusp of adulthood have to face up to who they are. While the
film's script tends to smooth out a lot of rough edges, and the entire enterprise is bathed in a
storybook glow, complete with fairy godmother, Mystic Pizza explores issues that you wouldn't
encounter in a film with male protagonists. Over twenty years before An Education, these girls
were learning many of the same lessons in a far less glamorous environment.
The film is about three young women in their early twenties, friends since childhood. All of them
work as waitresses in a pizza parlor in the seaport town of Mystic, Connecticut. In the opening
scene, JoJo (Lili Taylor) is standing at the altar with her long-time boyfriend, Bill (Vincent
D'Onofrio, younger and slimmer than
Law and Order: CI's Det. Goren and still using his middle
name "Phillip"). Her bridesmaids are the Arujo sisters, Daisy (Roberts) and Kat (Annabeth
Gish). All their family and friends are there, including Leona (Conchata Ferrell), the proprietor of
Mystic Pizza, and Manny (Arthur Walsh), the long-suffering dishwasher.
But JoJo can't go through with it. As the prospect of all those years of married life unfolds before
her eyes, she faints dead away. The families are furious, the town is scandalized, and for the rest
of the film JoJo and Bill engage in a tug of war about their future (or whether they even have
one).
The Arujo girls are the stereotypical sisters who have been typecast, fairly or not, as opposites.
Daisy is the "pretty" one, and because boys like her, she's learned to use her looks aggressively,
acquiring a loose reputation that, on the strength of what's shown in the film, is grossly
exaggerated. (It probably doesn't take much in this small town for a girl to be branded a slut.)
Kat is the "smart" one who studies, and she's just been accepted for mid-year entrance at Yale
with a partial scholarship. Their mother (Joanna Merlin) is proud of Kat and worried about
Daisy. She doesn't want Daisy to repeat her mistakes and end up like her, supporting herself and
two kids by working at the docks sorting and banding lobsters for market.
Besides working at Mystic Pizza, Kat has multiple part-time jobs to supplement her partial
scholarship. The latest is a baby-sitting position for Tim Travers (William R. Moses), a restorer
of classic old houses who needs help with his daughter, Phoebe (Porsha Radcliffe), because his
wife is currently on assignment in England. Kat's latest job turns out to have a fringe benefit,
when Tim learns about her Yale acceptance and congratulates her as a fellow Eli. As Tim begins
detailing to Kat all the wonderful experiences her future has in store, the two become closer,
dangerously so.
Kat's sister, Daisy, is working on her own infatuation with a rich kid named Charlie, or rather:
Charles Gordon Windsor, Jr. (Adam Storke). He drives a red Porsche and spots Daisy when he
and some friends venture into a local bar one night. Days later he shows up at the Arujo home
looking for Daisy, and Mama Arujo gets appropriately concerned. Like too many pretty young
women, Daisy thinks she can marry up on the strength of her looks, but her mother is worldly
enough to be skeptical. What neither of them knows is that Charlie isn't what he seems. Like
Daisy, he's in open revolt against where he came from, but unlike Daisy, he doesn't know where
he wants to go. It's a perfect recipe for a combustible relationship.
(As an aside, if anyone finds the behavior of Charlie's family members to be exaggerated, I can
assure you that it isn't. I grew up knowing many such people, and while today they might be less
overt in their expression, the unpleasant sentiments are entirely authentic.)
The main characters in
Mystic Pizza are all of Portugese descent, but aside from wedding
customs and a tradition of fishing, the main marker of their heritage is Leona's secret recipe for
pizza sauce, passed down through the generations and zealously guarded until Leona hands over
Mystic Pizza to her successor, whoever that turns out to be. First, though, the place has to
survive. Business is down and hopes are pinned on a favorable review from a finicky TV
restaurant critic named Hector Pleshette (Louis Turenne). Does anyone really need to be told how
this story turns out?
As for our three heroines, some things go badly, some things work out, and some things are left
up in the air.
Mystic Pizza unwinds its plot mechanics by predictable beats and draws its
characters in broad strokes. What distinguishes it is the brisk pace with which director Donald
Petrie (
Grumpy
Old Men) keeps writer Amy Jones's story moving along, and the cheerful energy
(and, in Gish's case, genuine poignancy) with which the cast, especially the female members,
infuse their roles. (Jones had help writing the script from Oscar winner Alfred Uhry (
Driving
Miss Daisy) as well as Perry and Randy Howze, who went on to write the eccentric romance
Chances Are.)
Mystic Pizza is a small film, but like Leona's creations, it never fails to
satisfy.
Trivia note: Watch for a young Matt Damon, who has about ten seconds of screen time. This was
his first film. He plays Charlie's younger brother. It would be thirteen years before he and
Roberts shared the screen again in
Ocean's 11.
Mystic Pizza Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
I'm always intrigued when the same director of photography shows up on so many cult classics
and guilty pleasures. Here's a partial list of DP Tim Suhrstedt's credits: Teen Wolf, Mannequin,
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Wedding Singer and -- wait for it! -- Office Space. And
let's not forget the recent awards favorite Little Miss Sunshine. Add Mystic Pizza to the list.
The source material is in good condition, with only a few stray specks. The 1080p, AVC-encoded
image accurately reproduces the film's low-budget, naturalistic look. This is a colorful world, but
not a glossy one, and the natural grain has been left intact without becoming intrusive. Fleshtones
appear accurate, black levels are deep enough to preserve good shadow detail in night scenes, and
the image is finely detailed overall. There does not appear to have been any DNR or artificial
sharpening, and the use of a BD-50 for a 104 minute film with no extras has ensured a lack of
compression-related issues.
Mystic Pizza Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The original "Ultra-Stereo" soundtrack (the poor man's Dolby Surround) is presented in DTS
lossless, and it sounds just fine. Dialogue is clear and centered, while the sounds of water and
boats, traffic and bar patrons, wedding guests and the great outdoors, bleed lightly into the
surrounds for a gentle sense of ambiance. Bass extension is almost non-existent, but this is not
the kind of film that calls for deep rumbles, even when the three leads are barreling down the road in a
pick-up trick singing along to Aretha Franklin's "Respect" (because it's only a car radio). The
original score by David McHugh is serviceable.
Mystic Pizza Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
Mastered with the usual cut-rate approach that Fox employs on MGM discs, Mystic Pizza
features BD-Java, no main menu, no bookmarking capability, no advanced features and only one
"special" feature:
- Theatrical Trailer (SD; 1.85:1, enhanced; 1:50). The source material is in very rough shape,
washed out and with substantial print damage. The trailer is lively but ends with what some
might consider a major spoiler, although it's a development most viewers will see coming from a
mile away.
Mystic Pizza Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
One has to be careful not to oversell a little film like Mystic Pizza, and yet it's hard to get
around the fact that simple dramas about ordinary people have become an endangered species on the
American scene. The major studios have abandoned them altogether, and even their specialty
divisions seem to need some sort of clever marketing hook before they'll take a chance. For a
similar film to be made today, it would probably have to be subtitled and set in Europe.
Strasbourg Croissant, anyone?