Mystic Pizza movie synopsis. Sisters Kat and Daisy work along with Jojo at the pizza parlour in Mystic, Connecticut. Kat, shortly off to Yale, finds herself drawn to a local architect she is babysitting for, while her more tearaway sister starts dating a guy from the money side of the tracks. Jojo leaves her man at the altar; she loves him but shies away from commitment. Meanwhile the fame of the pizza continues to spread; it seems to contain something almost…. mystic.
Mystic Pizza is a 1988 American coming-of-age film directed by Donald Petrie, and stars Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts and Lili Taylor. It marked Matt Damon’s film debut. Although the film did not perform as well as expected at the box office, it gained a large cult following since its release and received relatively positive reviews by film critics, who praised the performances by the three lead actresses.
About the Story
The film is about the coming of age of two sisters and their friend through the romantic lives of the three main characters: Kat Arujo (Annabeth Gish), Daisy Arujo (Julia Roberts), and Jojo Barbosa (Lili Taylor), who are waitresses at Mystic Pizza in Mystic, Connecticut. In the film, Mystic is represented as a fishing town with a large Portuguese-American population. The film also touches on an Old World work ethic.
Kat and Daisy are sisters and rivals: Kat studies astronomy, works at the planetarium in the famous Whaling Museum of The Mystic Seaport, as well as the restaurant, and has been accepted to attend Yale University on a partial scholarship. Daisy just wants to find love through lust while trying to get out of Mystic. Kat is the apple of her Portuguese mother’s eye, while Daisy is not because her mother feels she is more wild and is not as goal-oriented as her younger sister.
Daisy meets a handsome young man named Charles (Adam Storke) at a bar, and the two are immediately attracted to each other, and begin a relationship, much to her mother’s dismay, believing that the relationship will prevent her making something of herself like Kat. However, at a family dinner, his relatives unintentionally make insensitive comments about her ethnicity, and Charles overreacts. Daisy breaks up with him, believing that his family’s remarks were harmless and that he was simply using her to show up his parents.
There is also chemistry between Kat and her Anglo-American employer, Tim (William R. Moses), a father who has hired her to look after his young daughter, Phoebe, while his wife is away. A relationship develops between them, and they eventually make love, but it results in heartache for Kat when the wife returns and her illusion of an actual relationship with Tim is shattered. Daisy and Kat bond when Kat is devastated after Tim’s and her evening together and Daisy comforts her baby sister.
Jojo is trying to have sex with her boyfriend Bill (Vincent D’Onofrio), whom she attempted to marry at the beginning of the movie, but fainted after deciding she couldn’t go through with it. However, Bill refuses to have sex with her until they are married, which is something she still isn’t ready for. Seeing how she tries to look for every chance to have sex with him, Bill believes that Jojo doesn’t love him like he does her, and is only after him for sex, and breaks up with her.
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Directed by: Donald Petrie
Starring: Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, Vincent D’Onofrio, William R. Moses, Adam Storke, Conchata Ferrell, Joanna Merlin, Porscha Radcliffe, Janet Zarish
Screenplay by: Amy Holden Jones, Perry Howze, Randy Howze, Alfred Uhry
Production Design by: David Chapman
Cinematography by: Tim Suhrstedt
Film Editing by: Don Brochu, Marion Rothman
Costume Design by: Jennifer von Mayrhauser
Set Decoration by: Clay A. Griffith
Art Direction by: Mark Haack
Music by: David McHugh
Distributed by: The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release Date: October 21, 1988
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