Joey H.
Released on October 4th, 1991; the Man in the Moon tells a beautiful story about the powerful bonds of family, sisterhood, and young love, all seen through the eyes of two girls and one boy. Directed by Oscar nominee Robert Mulligan, the man behind To Kill a Mockingbird, Clara’s Heart, Summer of ‘42 and other great films, the story takes place in the summer of 1957, in a small country town of Louisiana. The main character is 14 year old Danielle “Dani” Trant, portrayed by future Oscar winning actress Reese Witherspoon in her feature film debut. She lives with her father Matthew; portrayed by Sam Waterston, mother Abigail; portrayed by Tess Harper, older sister Maureen; portrayed by Emily Warfield and baby sister Missy. Maureen is going to be off to college in the fall and is currently going out with a boy named Billy Sanders, played by Bentley Mitchum, although she is not in love with him. Abigail is pregnant with baby number four, which Matthew is hoping will be their first son. Dani and Maureen are very close and usually share everything with each other, but all that is tested when the Foster family moves in down the road and they both wind up laying eyes on the teenage son Court Foster, played by Jason London. At first the story is all about Dani spending time with Court while experiencing her first ever crush and feelings of affection, which eventually results in her having her first ever kiss. But then later when Court meets Maureen, who has just recently ended things with Billy, it’s love at first sight for both of them and Maureen finally finds the love connection she’s always been looking for, which ends up causing a rift between her and Dani, and in turn causes a rift between Dani and Court. But just when things can’t seem to get any worse, tragedy strikes and it ends up affecting both girls in different ways, drawing them further apart before eventually bringing the two of them back together. Late film critic Roger Ebert named this as one of his top ten films of 1991, and I 1000% agree with him. This was to be Robert Mulligan’s final film of his career before his retirement and eventual death in 2008. The story is touching, endearing, heartwarming and also will tug at your heartstrings in all the right places. I give this classic film a solid 10/10. The cast is perfect and the direction is perfect.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
07/30/25
Full Review
Libby W
This completely disgusted me. At the beginning of the movie I really thought I may have found a new favorite. Tender, sincere, truly lovely. THENNNN, trauma ensues. Spoiler alert- cheating, pain, DEATH. I feel like my whole mind has been violated by the tragedy of this film. I will never watch it again, and I would never recommend for someone to watch it. I had to take ibuprofen after this to cure my headache and heartache. Don’t do it unless you want plot twists resulting in pain, anger, and sincere confusion. I get enough tragedy and sadness in real life, someone tell me why I want that in my movies too. I hate it. If I could give it negative stars, I would. Thank you,
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
07/18/25
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Jared H
The plot was kinda all over the place, hard to find a common thread. I’m trying to be as generous as possible, thinking there must be some reason why this rated so highly. I guess the main thread is sisterhood? It’s kind of bookended at the beginning and end with two sisters trying to figure life out, and accepting that maybe it can’t be figured out. Although it felt like that theme was sort of just tacked on at the beginning and end. There’s also Dani’s journey throughout the film of not wanting to be seen as a kid (which is honestly valid, because she’s one of the most mature characters in the film). In the opening scene she refers to talking to the Man in the Moon as “kid stuff” but ultimately, again in the final scene, she seems to warm up to the idea of the Man in the Moon, probably implying she’s made peace with her youth.
The film is also pretty well acted, especially Reese Witherspoon. The performances felt mostly realistic and relatable.
That’s the good stuff, as far as I can tell, but I honestly came away at the end feeling like I’d basically watched a soap opera. The main 3 conflicts are the mother’s tripping accident, the sisters’ love triangle with Court, and Court’s eventual death. The love triangle was really the only conflict that felt natural, and made sense with the story. The other two freak accidents were very forced, and felt like they came out of nowhere.
Additionally, the early scenes with Maureen and her boyfriend, Billy felt largely unnecessary to the movie. It didn’t really develop her character at all, other than maybe implying that it lead her to wish for some other man to come along. But it all felt kind of pointless. A lot of the sequences felt unmeaningful. Maybe that’s why I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth. It could be that coming of age just isn’t my thing, but so much of the film just wasn’t compelling, and felt like things happened for no other reason than to be sad.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
05/05/25
Full Review
Iván M
I really enjoyed this movie. The only reason I'm drawing a star back is because I wasn't satisfied with the ending, and I sort of refuse to believe Dani and Court will not grow up to be together.
Additionally, Maureene's greed and malice truly infuriated me, so I guess that's a good indicator that I was immersed in the film's storyline, and that says a lot.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/17/25
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Meredith G
Grew up watching this movie. I’ve probably seen it 40-50 times at least. It’s a tear jerker for sure, but so worth it. It’s just a good film about growing up and having your first crush and all the warm feels. I’d definitely recommend.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/27/25
Full Review
Catherine R
There's so much to say about this film.
One, I didn't know this was Reese Witherspoons first film ever. Hats to a hell of a performance. Made ball like a baby.
Two, even though Court was 17 and Dani was 14, I love how Court was very much aware of that but he was still, genuinely willing, to be her friend.
Three, it amazes how the phrase, "love at first sight" can look so real on tv. Like when Court and Maureen first locked eyes, it was like watching the stars aline and it was basically, modernly speaking, game over, this is it. Like as an audience member, you can tell that they were gona be together.
Four, I especially love that, Maureen tries to resist the handsome fella first. Just because she knew her sister liked him first. Like I love that she didn't just immediately go for it. She fought the urge, tried to tell Court if her loyalty to her Dani and Court was explaining, very gently, that he did love Dani but in a different way. To him, she was just a very special kid and he was happy to again, be her friend. But also that he felt a very very different kind of love for Maureen. Since they were the same age, it makes sense that he'd fall for her way faster.
But I hate that he died alittle after. It was like the movie was saying, that if you sleep with someone as a teenager, you tragically die. Like, I know it was an accident and he was trying to reach for his hat bit good lord, did he have to die???
I also love and appreciate the father daughter relationship going on in the film. Like despite Matt pull out his belt to Dani, they were still close.
Again. This makes me wish I had an older sister growing up. Thankfully some older girls at my church made me feel special. I don't they realized how special. But they did. So that's my reason for the 5 stars.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/01/24
Full Review
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