The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Moonstruck

written by John Patrick Shanley


Moonstruck is a delightful romantic comedy about a 37-year-old Italian widow who believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from a friend even though she doesn't love him. When she meets his emotional and romantic brother, she finds love at last - and much of the comedy follows her distrust of it.

Structural Analysis

  1. Hook (4 min.)
    • It's an unusual night in the Italian restaurant: Johnny has told the waiter he plans to propose to Loretta, and when he does Loretta makes him get on his knees and give her his ring so she might break the bad luck that made her a widow so soon after marriage.
  2. Complication (8 min.)
    • Johnny's mother is on her death bed - and he can't have the wedding while she is alive, but Loretta presses him to agree to a wedding in a month.
  3. Call to Action (29 min.)
    • Johnny wants his estranged younger brother Ronnie at the wedding. When Loretta calls him, he hangs up. When she goes to the bakery where he works, she meets an eccentric, high-strung, romantic Italian - and instead of running from him, she makes the effort to get to know him better.
  4. Act One Plot Point (37 min.)
    • Ronnie kisses Loretta after she makes him a meal - and she kisses back. He carries her into the bedroom.
  5. Midpoint Plot Point (68, 77 min.)
    • Loretta is determined to go through with the wedding to Ronnie's brother but he talks her into one last date, a night at the opera. There, hearing an aria, she holds his hand (68 min.) and later accepts his romantic plea to come to his bed again (77 min.). She is not running from her feelings for him.
  6. Act Two Plot Point (85 min.)
    • Loretta goes home and tells her mother, "Everything is different." As indeed it is!
  7. Climax and Resolution (87-97 min.)
    • One by one, all the players in the story come to the dinner table after Loretta's return - first Ronnie, to fight for her, followed by members of the extended family (subplots) - and finally Johnny, whose mother has made a miraculous recovery, so that he no longer can marry her (95 min.). Ronnie quickly proposes, Loretta accepts, and the story ends with a happy Italian family in celebration.

    Notes

    Moonstruck gets its humor from the play between the passionate, spontaneous Italian male (Ronnie) and the careful "jinxed" woman (Loretta), juxtaposed against the safe marriage that awaits her. Can she dare to risk again?

    Parallel to this is a subplot story of the affair of Loretta's father. "Why do men chase women?" Loretta's mother keeps asking - and the answer she accepts is, Because they are afraid of death.

    The extended Italian family with its superstitions and passions provides the appropriate backdrop for this soft and witty romantic comedy.


    MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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