In the 1990s, at the age of 66, Mulligan would release his final film, "The Man in the Moon" (1991), starring a 14-year-old Reese Witherspoon, in her film debut. The film was praised by Roger Ebert, who included it at #8 in his Top 10 list of the best films of 1991, declaring, "Nothing else has done... approaches the purity and perfection of "The Man in the Moon"... (with a) poetic, bittersweet tone, and avoid(ing) the sentimentalism and cheap emotion that could have destroyed this story."