History Film / Moonstruck

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Oh, Nic Cage. "Chrissy, ''bring me the '''[[LargeHam BIG KNIFE!]]''''' I'm gonna ''cut my throat!''"

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Oh, Nic Cage. "Chrissy, bring me the '''[[LargeHam BIG KNIFE!]]''' I'm gonna cut my throat!"

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Oh, Nic Cage. "Chrissy, bring me the ''[[LargeHam BIG KNIFE!]]'' I'm gonna cut my throat!"

* GoodShepard: The Priest Loretta confesses her affair to never once condemns her or judges her as one would expect from this type of scene. Instead he advises her, in a friendly manner, to simply think about her life and the choices she's making and gives her rather light penance.

The story of your typical Italian American family living in New York. Loretta (Music/{{Cher}}), a widow in her late thirties who has moved back in with her parents since the death of her husband, accepts a proposal from her bumbling boyfriend Johnny (Danny Aiello), who suddenly has to leave in order to visit his dying mother in Sicily. While he's away, Loretta tries to convince Johnny's estranged brother Ronny (Creator/NicolasCage) to give up their feud and come to the upcoming wedding, but accidentally falls for him. At the same time, Loretta's father (Vincent Gardenia) is having a secret affair while her mother (Olympia Dukakis) ponders the skirt-chasing mentality of men. HilarityEnsues.

* ObliviousToLove: Ronny in regard to Crissy who confesses to Loretta that she's in love with him. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment It's never mentioned again]].

* LargeHam: Cage just nearly borders on this during his first scene where he explains his hatred for his brother, but slides back into being genuine. It helps that the characters react to him in a similar way as the audience would, giving the character just a more LargeHam persona. It's been noted that Ronny is operatic - he loves opera, and literally ''performs'' his life (see InsistentTerminology). He has plenty of more human, quiet moments.

* BaitAndSwitchComment: Grandpa late in the film announces he has something important to say. One might think for a moment he was about to call out Rose for cheating with Perry (which she didn't), but he forcefully tells Cosmo that he must pay for the wedding of his only daughter, which he mentioned briefly he intended to do at his friend's burial.

* PanAndScan: The film was shot in 4:3, but in a way that would allow for widescreen in theaters.

* GenreSavvy: Rose is right about ''everything'', save assuming someone died when Cosmo and Loretta wake her up in the middle of the night. She groans when she sees Loretta taking after Cosmo, and is completely unsurprised by ''anything''.
-->'''Rose:''' ''(meeting Johnny for the first time)'' Nice to meet you. ''(checks under his collar and finds exactly what she expected)'' You've got a love bite on your neck.

* MyBelovedSmother: Johnny's mother. She's dying -- til she finds out Johnny's found a ParentalSubstitute in Loretta. She then has a miraculous recovering and eats a dinner "that could choke a horse". Johnny breaks off his marriage with Loretta because she'll die if he gets married. Ronnie scoffs, "You're 42 and she's still running your life!"

* WeirdMoon: It's unnaturally large after Ronny sleeps with Loretta. Raymond calls it "Cosmo's moon" (the last time he saw it so huge was when Cosmo was courting Rose.)

The story of your typical Italian American family living in New York. Loretta ({{Cher}}), a widow in her late thirties who has moved back in with her parents since the death of her husband, accepts a proposal from her bumbling boyfriend Johnny (Danny Aiello), who suddenly has to leave in order to visit his dying mother in Sicily. While he's away, Loretta tries to convince Johnny's estranged brother Ronny (NicolasCage) to give up their feud and come to the upcoming wedding, but accidentally falls for him. At the same time, Loretta's father (Vincent Gardenia) is having a secret affair while her mother (Olympia Dukakis) ponders the skirt-chasing mentality of men. HilarityEnsues.

-->''"I took the name of the Lord in vain, I slept with the brother of my fiancee, and I bounced a check at the liquor store."''

* AnimalMotif: Ronny resembles a wolf before he cleans up for the opera, which makes sense since Loretta calls him a wolf and the original title of the film was ''The Bride and the Wolf''.

* DamnedByFaintPraise: When Al tells Loretta that he's a genius, she retorts that if he's such a genius, why are his receipts and taxes a complete ad utter mess? She eventually admits he makes good coffee.