In "A Walk on the Moon", it is 1969 and Pearl(Diane Lane) and Marty Kantrowitz(Liev Schrieber), their children, Allison(Anna Paquin) and Daniel(Bobby Boniello), and Marty's mother(Tovah Feldshuh), are vacationing in the Catskills where they spend every summer. Marty who works as a television repairman tries to make it
up there every weekend from New York City but cannot one time due to overwhelming demand at his shop in the days leading up to the moon landing. Left to her own devices, Pearl seeks the company of Walker(Viggo Mortensen), the handsome new blouse man... "A Walk on the Moon" is a facile and one-sided take on such overly familiar themes as infidelity and thwarted dreams that wastes a very fine cast in the bargain. The only reason for setting the movie in 1969 is as a reaction against the personal and political liberation of the time. On the one hand, it dives head first into the cliches of the time(Woodstock but it does get points for mentioning the Mets) but also thankfully points out that not everybody back then were hippies.(My parents certainly were not, even if I am.)
January 30, 2007
