Mystic Pizza

The most "mystic" thing about this dreary romantic comedy-drama is why it took four writers to pen it. The ingredients: (1) totally hackneyed romance between Daisy, a poor girl with aspirations and a rich boy who wants to trade in his Porsche for real life (sound familiar, so far?); (1) boring-to-the-point-of-remote-control-channel-flipping-itis romance between a Harvard married man and Kat, a nice-girl babysitter (the smoldering dialogue between these two couldn't light an ammo dump); and (1) halfway interesting relationship (because it inverts rather than replays a cliché) between JoJo, who wants sex without commitment, and her blue-collar lover, a fisherman who wants a family. What holds these ingredients together is pure cheese: the three girls are waitresses for a pizzeria in Mystic, CT (get it?). And they're waiting for a snooty restaurant critic to lift them out of anchovy oblivion, which, of course now, wait for it-he does. Mystic Pizza has its moments, but they make for a woefully thin crust. Libraries with larger collections may want to consider this; for others not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—May 24, 2011—MGM, 104 min., R, $19.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1988's Mystic Pizza features a nice transfer with DTS-HD sound. The sole bonus feature is a theatrical trailer. Bottom line: a decent Blu-ray debut for one of Julia Roberts' earliest films.]