Mystic Pizza
| Mystic Pizza | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster for Mystic Pizza | |
| Directed by | Donald Petrie |
| Written by | Amy Holden Jones Perry Howze Randy Howze Alfred Uhry |
| Produced by | Mark Levinson Scott M. Rosenfelt |
| Starring | Annabeth Gish Julia Roberts Lili Taylor Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio William R. Moses Adam Storke Conchata Ferrell |
| Cinematography | Tim Suhrstedt |
| Edited by | Don Brochu Marion Rothman |
| Music by | David McHugh |
| Distributed by | Samuel Goldwyn Company |
Release dates | October 21, 1988 |
Running time | 104 min. |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 (estimated) |
Mystic Pizza is a 1988 coming-of-age film directed by Donald Petrie and starring Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, and Lili Taylor. The film's tagline is: "A romantic comedy with the works."
Plot
The film is about the coming of age of two sisters and their friend, as seen through the romantic lives of the three main characters: Kat, Daisy, and Jojo, who all work as waitresses at Mystic Pizza in Mystic, Connecticut. Mystic in the film is represented as a fishing town with a large Portuguese American population, though that description more closely resembles neighboring Stonington, Connecticut, where many scenes were filmed.
The movie also touches on an Old World work ethic. Kat and Daisy are sisters and rivals; the former studies astronomy, works at a local planetarium, as well as the restaurant, and has been accepted to attend Yale University, while the latter just wants to have fun. Kat is the apple of her Portuguese mother's eye, while Daisy is not: She is promiscuous and is not as goal-oriented as her younger sister.
There is also a dynamic between Kat's Anglo-American employer and the resulting relationship between them. The class distinctions and variant European heritages are explored in various scenes of the film.
Vincent D'Onofrio and Adam Storke co-star; in his screen debut, Matt Damon has a small part (his sole line in the film being, "Mom, do you want my green stuff?" while eating lobster).
The title of the film was based on a pizza shop that caught the eye of Hollywood screen writer, Amy H. Jones. A restaurant named Mystic Pizza in Mystic, Connecticut has become popular among summer tourists due to the film's success.
Home media
On January 13, 2009 “Mustic Pizza” and “Say Anything” were released as double feature on DVD. [1]
References in popular culture
- In the 30 Rock season two premiere SeinfeldVision, the character Jenna Maroney returns from summer break having starred in Mystic Pizza: The Musical. Her noticeable weight gain is attributed to eating 32 slices of pizza a week for the show. In a later episode, she wins a (fake) award for Best Actress in a Movie based on a Musical based on a Movie.
- A sub-plot of the Broken Lizards film Puddle Cruiser the main characters watch the film believing that Julia Roberts gets naked in the it.
References
- ^ "Mystic Pizza/Say Anything Double Feature (2009)". Retrieved February 19, 2009.