Moonlight Serenade (2009)

Great Film overall

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Okay, I stayed with it until the end, hoping that it might get better. I usually like Amy Adams, that's why I spent my four dollars on this in the first place. But my willpower was wasted...MAN, what a terrible film! Amy did the best that she could with a very weak, unsupported plot and scripting, but even her singing, which in Enchanted and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day were quite charming, was just above pedestrian in this sad little film.And I couldn't even sit through Alec Newman's attempts after that first number. I got quicker and quicker with the fast forward button as the movie progressed. I use that phrase loosely. Not much progression here.Jazz standards, which I love, require a richness and clarity of voice that from their showing here, neither of these performers have, sorry to say. And no one, short of Harriet Sansom Harris as Nate's assistant, could save their portion of the tired script. Though I will say that Mr. Newman's dramatic chops gave a better showing of themselves after his character lost his job and his girl and finally dealt with the loss of his mother. Just, please, Alec, don't let them put you in a musical, ever again, for all our sakes!

We saw this on Netflix streaming video.Amy Adams is Chloe, coat-check girl in a small New York nightspot but she aspires to be a professional singer.Brit Alec Newman is Nate Holden, hot-shot New York financial professional who makes his fame and fortune looking for bad things, companies that are about to experience problems and betting against them in the market. Nate grew up musically, has a piano at home and sings and plays every evening as a way to unwind from the pressures of the financial world. One evening, while playing and singing with his second story window open, he hears a beautiful voice from the sidewalk below, singing along with him. He rushes out, only to find her gone. In a Cinderella moment, he finds a lost charm on the sidewalk, and this eventually leads him back to Chloe.But Chloe has complications, her addicted boyfriend who had disappeared for several weeks shows up and she needs to help him get well. Meanwhile Nate gets disenchanted with the negative side of the investment business and switches focus, to establishing solid growth company portfolios for major clients. This gets him fired but is the catalyst for his overcoming some personal issues.A good, small story about turning your negatives into positives. Amy Adams is always fun to watch, and she is a pretty good singer also.

Having endured this film last night, I turned off the DVD player with a sense of deserving a medal for having the stamina to see it through to the end. Throughout the film I felt that I was watching the storyline fillers that you get in a high budget porn movie. the acting was stiff and taut, camera work appalling, and the locations and sets were so poor it felt like they had borrowed them from the local High School "Amateur Dramatic's Society".The only saving grace for this movie was that it had Amy Adams and Harriet Sansom Harris in its credits, other than that it was pure dribble.

I confess I found this film irresistible. It's primarily a vehicle for a terrific score, consisting almost entirely of the superb performances and arrangements of Joey DeFrancesco (Frank D). What a pleasant showcase for classics from sorely missed show tunes and jazz of the 40's and 50's, all capably rendered by Amy Adams and Scott G. Anderson. DeFrancesco, incidentally, not only plays the Hammond B, but also piano and trumpet in the movie score (though his Frank D is seen performing only on the Hammond B in the film itself). The film seems to have been somewhat inspired by Steve Koves' Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), though it's not up to the outstanding production values of that film, or the first-rate performances of Jeff and Beau Bridges and (especially) Michelle Pfeiffer, who received an Academy Award nomination. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Moonlight Serenade for ALL the reasons that others who posted here have already pointed out. It was great to hear these wonderful, time-tested classical popular and jazz compositions again. I own the film and would love to find the sound track, but no luck so far.