Moonlighting

I noticed some time ago that many of the old "At the Movies" shows with Siskel and Ebert are posted on YouTube. Today I watched their Best of 1982 episode and was surprised that Gene Siskel thought "Moonlighting" was the best movie of the year...a film I'd never heard of and which was made very cheaply in the UK. So, I decided to give it a watch.

The story is about four Poles who come to London to work under the table rehabbing an apartment. Why? Well, Polish workers work for a lot less money than English ones and as long as they aren't caught, the scheme will pay off well for everyone. But only one of them (Jeremy Irons) speaks English and the rest spend much of the movie like the Darryls ("Newhart") or Harpo Marx...saying absolutely nothing. As the movie progresses, the more you see that this spokesman is very manipulative...and a most unusual character study of the man.

The story is told VERY economically...with little traditional incidental music and no fancy sets. It looks more like a high quality home movie than a big-time production. I am sure many will dislike the starkness and slow pace of the movie as well as the lack of emotion in the characters. They mostly seem depressed...which is understandable considering what eventually occurs in the picture. But it also makes viewing the film anything but fun.

Overall, this is an okay film which I didn't enjoy nearly as much as Siskel or some of the other reviewers did. Worth seeing? Perhaps...but not if you want a fun or traditional style movie.