'Moonlight' more than the expected sob-fest

Though it may look like your average star-studded, soft-spot, string-pulling tear-jerker, Moonlight Mile is certainly a pleasant surprise of a story. Loosely based on writer/director Brad Silberling's own tragic loss of his girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer (an up-and-coming TV star who in 1989 was murdered by an obsessed fan), the film takes a quirky yet earnest look at the taxing and complicated process of grieving and the rearrangement of life after grief.\nWhat stands out most about the story in Moonlight Mile is its reluctance to be just a tale of sorrow and recovery. In many ways, the film is more about ordinary people trying to find their place in a knotty and unpredictable world. \nAfter the tragic and random murder of his fiancé, Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) finds himself wedged in the leftover circumstances and expectations that preceded the untimely tragedy -- and he's not sure that's where he wants to be. Living with his late love's brokenhearted parents, JoJo (Susan Sarandon) and Ben (Dustin Hoffman), Joe's life has become eddied in the staus quo in which the three key players find themselves swimming in circles, rudderless in their own confusion.\nBut like I said, it's not the sappy cry-fest it could have been. At times, in fact, Moonlight Mile is tremendously funny. Silberling's well-crafted but flawed script seems sincere and real, as the performances of Gyllenhaal, Sarandon and Hoffman really hold the film together where it might have otherwise gone astray. In fact, Moonlight Mile is yet another solid career choice for the immensely talented Gyllenhaal. For me, watching his brilliant performance next to Hoffman seems like a changing of the detached-and-conflicted youth guard, as the parallels between Gyllenhaal's Joe and Hoffman's legendary role as Benjamin in The Graduate can't be ignored.\nAll in all, Moonlight Mile does not disappoint. It may not be perfect, but it is sincere, and that, at least, is something to be appreciated. If nothing else, it's the acting in Moonlight Mile that deserves a look. And seriously, if you're still not convinced about Gyllenhaal, well, you're wrong, becasue you probably haven't seen "Donnie Darko"