The Man in the Moon (1991)

Release date: 1991-10-04
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Robert Mulligan
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 7.4/10
Length: 1h 39min

Storyline

Rural Louisiana, summer of 1957, Elvis is King. At 14, Dani is coming of age. Her older sister is beautiful, smart, and off to Duke in the fall; her mom's pregnant with number four (Dad wants a son), and Dad's pretty strict. Life gets sweeter when 17-year-old Court Foster, his widowed mom, and two little brothers move into the vacant farm next door. Court likes Dani's high spirits and direct way, and though he has a man's responsibilities on the farm, they go off swimming sometimes. The waters of adolescence are deeper than Dani realizes as hers and Court's feelings get jumbled. Then Mother Nature throws wrenching surprises at Dani, and she must come to terms with new emotions.

Plot Keywords

title spoken by character, puberty, swimming pool, record player, rain, funeral, chewing gum, farming, ponytail, teen angst, nipples, teenage girl, small town, reflection, intimacy, first love, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, cemetery, sister sister relationship, hospital

Short Review

Newcomer Witherspoon manages to strike exactly the right note as the tomboy on the verge of womanhood while Waterston works on several levels at once.