Moonstruck (1987)

The Scene: “Bring me the big knife!”

Why I Love This Scene: We’ve poked fun at Nic Cage for years now and for good reason—the man’s a wacko. But a great wacko. And back in the 80s he was a rising star and had a lot of great performances like Raising Arizona, Valley Girl and Moonstruck that was a precursor to even greater performances like Honeymoon in Vegas, Con Air, Face/Off and Leaving Las Vegas which won him an academy award. But since then his star power has fallen and his quality of work has failed to even raise eyebrows anymore. Whereas his kooky roles in The Wicker Man, Drive Angry or Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans are looked upon like big mistakes and funny memes. Lately his outrageous demeanor and personality take center stage but back in the beginning of his career he had a ton going for him. Granted I still like him even though the last movie I saw that he starred in was Ghost Rider way back in 2007! 

I’ve always had a soft spot for Moonstruck. It was a favorite of my dear Italian mom who is also a huge Cher fan. It is really funny, clever, full of great performances and a wonderful soundtrack of old Italian-style classics. Plus it pretty much introduced “Moonstruck Eggs” to the world, which is an egg fried inside a large piece of bread. Also called “Eggs in a Nest” but since 1987 me and countless others call it “Moonstruck Eggs.” Whatever your opinion is of Cher she is a fantastic actress. She has been nominated twice by the academy awards and winning for Moonstruck. She hasn’t acted in many movies but most of them are very good. 

But the real stand-out for me is Cage. Just re-watching the bakery scene made me laugh at how bonkers he could play a character. He explains in a very crazy way how he despises his brother because he blames him for an accident in which he lost his hand to a bread slicer. It’s such a weak excuse but Cage makes it believable enough because he is so full of rage and passion. It’s also inadvertently funny the way he talks and changes tone while ranting and raving away at a very perplexed and composed Cher.