On the surface, it would be easy to dismiss Mystic Pizza as just another 80’s chick flick, but that would be a mistake. Granted, this is a film that focuses on girls and romance and it was originally released in 1988 but Mystic Pizza has a lot more going for it than most of the other (now long-forgotten) films of the genre. The plot is predictable but the characters and the beautiful setting work together to make this a truly likable movie. It’s a funny and entertaining peek into the lives of three young ladies trying to make the jump from childhood to adulthood.
The title refers to a pizzeria in the quaint fishing town of Mystic, Connecticut, where most of the year-round residents are of Portuguese heritage. Waitressing at the restaurant are three friends: sisters Kat (Annabeth Gish) and Daisy (Julia Roberts) and their best friend Jojo (Lili Taylor). Although all three girls are working at Mystic Pizza right now, it won’t be long before they each branch out in very different directions. Kat is headed to Yale to study astronomy, Daisy is hoping to use her good looks to meet a man and get out of Mystic, while Jojo is content to one day take over the pizza parlor – once she figures out the secret ingredient in the tomato sauce!
Of course, each character has her own romantic drama. Daisy gets involved with a wealthy law student drop-out who drives a red sports car and comes from a family of bigots. Jojo leaves her fiancé at the altar even though she really loves him because she is petrified of commitment. And Kat falls for a young father she’s babysitting for while his wife is out of the country. Taken individually, each story is pretty weak and completely predictable. But this is one of those cases where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Mystic Pizza succeeds because it warmly shows how the three women support each other through each situation and how they are always there for each other – even if they’re not getting along at the moment.
Gish, Roberts, and Taylor give outstanding performances in what turned out to be the first big film for all three actresses. As the sisters, Gish and Roberts are completely believable. They do the heartfelt moments just as well as they do the screaming! The role of Jojo is more humorous, but Taylor really nails it in every scene. And I wouldn’t want to neglect the most important performance – the town of Mystic, now looking better than ever on BluRay! I’m sure the film could have taken place somewhere else but having Mystic as the backdrop just adds an extra layer of texture (and lobsters). I’m not really sure why Daisy wants to “get out of Mystic” so badly. It seems like a beautiful town to me!
I have more than a sneaking suspicion that the screenwriters intended the secret ingredient in the pizza sauce to be a metaphor for the three girls search for the secret to a successful adulthood life. When you’re old enough and have acquired enough wisdom you too can learn the secret ingredient and be happy! Personally, I tend to believe in the adage from Kung Fu Panda instead (“There is no secret ingredient!”) but I still recommend Mystic Pizza wholeheartedly!
Mystic Pizza arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4-AVC encode framed at 1.85:1. Being a catalog release that is somewhat old plus a low profile film gives you a great indication of what to expect. Right from the beginning viewers will be able to notice artifacts and other anomalies on the image, these are more noticeable during nighttime scenes. Colors are stable and black levels are well rendered. Detailing is not very revealing and it only manages to get some close ups with good textures. This is perhaps the best looking version this film will ever have.
Mystic Pizza arrives on Blu-ray with a DTS-HD 2.0 audio tack. The dialogue is clean throughout. There is no real use of the surrounds and the bass doesn’t really exist. The track has a very simple design and directionality is a hit or miss. The track does a decent job, but it certainly won’t blow you away.
There are no supplemental materials presented on this disc except for the theatrical trailer and I don’t really think that counts as a “supplement”. To make it worse, the trailer looks like it’s straight out of 1988 – no high-def touchups here!
Mystic Pizza is a charming film that I recommend, especially for women or guys who enjoy character-driven romantic comedies. If I didn’t know better I might tell you to hold off on purchasing this disc until another release comes along with some good special features. But sadly, I don’t think there’s going to be another release. This is most likely as good as it will get. But that’s OK. The movie is good enough by itself to make this purchase worth it.
