Moonlight & Valentino MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -1 1/2

MOONLIGHT & VALENTINO is a highly charged, emotional movie about four women's friendship. Rebecca (Elizabeth Perkins), a college instructor, has just lost her husband. Her former step-mother, Alberta (Kathleen Turner), and her younger sister, Lucy (Gwyneth Paltrow), appear on the scene to comfort Rebecca. They are joined by Rebecca's best friend and neighbor, Sylvie (Whoopi Goldberg). Over a year's time, the four share the pain in their lives and become extremely close. When Alberta decides to hire a handsome young man, Valentino (Jon Bon Jovi), to paint Rebecca's house as a birthday present, he has a strange effect on the women. He insists on painting the house in the moonlight, and somehow they become convinced it is the moonlight that helps them overcome their emotional problems. Outstanding performances make this touching film about dying, grieving and overcoming great difficulties an interesting, thought-provoking experience.

However, as it deals with these very serious issues, MOONLIGHT & VALENTINO offers some unrealistic solutions. To cheer Rebecca, Sylvie breaks out the tarot cards and does a reading for her. In another incident, the four women venture out just before dawn to a graveyard with their faces painted. There they seemingly commune with their dead loved ones. After they open their hearts to one another, it begins to rain, which is supposed to symbolize the cleansing of their souls. In sharp contrast to this pagan-like ritual, Rebecca writes a letter to God about her feelings, and buries it with two day lilies. While no sexual intercourse takes place on-screen, it is implied once between Rebecca and Valentino, as well as Lucy and her boyfriend. Completely uncalled for are many regular profanities and obscenities and some female breast and near nudity while bathing. Those, plus the strange, unexplained graveyard scene make MOONLIGHT & VALENTINO inappropriate for discerning audiences.

Preview Reviewer: Sherry Oswald
Distributor: USA Films (Gramercy), 9333 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210