Blue Moon

Aging couple Frank and Maggie (Ben Gazzara and Rita Moreno) are a pair of grouchy bickerers. Young would-be couple Mac and Peggy (Brian Vincent and Alanna Ubach) are loud and argumentative. In the hopes of smoothing over their respective differences, each dissenting duo decides to take a vacation in a cabin in the Catskills. When both Mac and Frank claim ownership of the same cabin, out comes the shotgun and in comes the dramatic tension. And then is the major revelation that will forever change all the participants. It's hard to talk about the movie without discussing this revelation, but to do so would ruin the one genuine surprise of the piece. So in the vaguest possible terms, let's just say that there's a magical twist of fate, which gives writer-director John Gallagher's film a Twilight Zone feel, although in this case it's less about the scary apocalyptic side of Rod Serling's vision than the nostalgic and sentimental one. If Cube was the Eraserhead of Twilight Zone-inspired films, for example, this would be The Straight Story. Ultimately, Blue Moon probably would play better as an actual Twilight Zone episode: There's too much padding at the beginning, notably an interminably long family party that has nothing to do with the rest of the story, and the heart of the drama could probably be condensed into a half-hour. Still, it's cute and sweet-natured, and probably won't displease anybody too greatly.