loretta castorini ( cher ) be a woman in her late thirty and a widow and who live with her parent in a duplex apartment in brooklyn . she be engage to marry johnny cammareri ( danny aiello ) and a bland man and more out of a resigned duty than actual love . before their wedding johnny take a trip out to visit his mother who be sick and leave loretta the function of play the olive leaf with his brother ronny by notify him of their impending wedding . ronny ( nicholas cage ) hasn not forgive johnny for be the cause of his accident which cause him the loss of his hand ( and subsequently and his then bride to be ) and but he do fall for loretta and and hard . after a heated affair loretta out of respect for johnny try to avoid ronny and but his dark look and overpower masculinity win her over . meanwhile and loretta mother rise castorini ( olympia dukakis ) be not only suspect her husband cosmo ( vincent gardenia ) be see another woman and but be also herself the subject of admiration from a college professor and wonder why do men chase woman . thing get complicate when johnny return from sicily to tell loretta they can not be marry . the setup be pure sitcom and but the story and write by john patrick shanley with a deep understanding for italian american live in new york and be genuine represent he get the idiosyncrasy of these people and their day to day foible and quirk and and all of the character have a deep romanticism that come through in key moment throughout the story . loretta and a character harden by the loss of her husband and know her chance of happiness be slim and slowly emerge a a woman who be so swept by the sudden recognition of love she become the heroine of la boheme the one who acknowledge the love of the man with the wooden hand ( in a clever gender reversal ) and and cher inhabits the role and make it hers and in her own style subtly trade her frumpiness to a deep and dark beauty . ronny be pure fire and nicholas cage exudes masculine power a if he be channel marlon brando . the castorini and the cappomaggi and counterbalance the central couple and both express their love for each other in two very crucial moment represent the latter couple and on the night of the full moon when loretta and ronny consummate their affair a rare scene depict love and intimacy among the elderly and and the former at a tense moment over breakfast when rise bluntly reveals and in touch word and that she want cosmo to stop see his mistress mona ( anita gillette ) . moonstruck be not only the romantic comedy and date movie of choice and but also a beautiful examination of love and passion among regular people . the end be a tour de force of emotional impact and the family situation go beyond the momentary complication to cement it in tradition go back to the day of immigrant and and be one that elevate this movie from be just another feel good movie to a classic . moonstruck deservedly get it oscar for best writing and actress and and support actress and and have prove to grow beyond it time .