A year ago, I did a silent, eight-day retreat at the Gonzaga/Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  I cannot say enough good things about the setting, although there are some oddities about the structure of your days at the location.  For example, there is no Adoration or Confession, which seems strange for a Catholic center.  Then again, it is run by the Jesuits, and sometimes you get a little funkiness with that order.  Wanting to go to Confession, I ended up going into town to the local parish.  This turned out to be a blessing because it introduced me to the gorgeous Our Lady of Good Voyage.  Because the city centers on the fishing industry (Gorton’s Fisherman is headquartered there), the church has a nautical theme, though that might be expected given its appellation under a rare Marian title.  What was less expected, for me anyway, was the Portuguese neighborhood in which it is located.  Shame on this holder of a Ph.D. in American History for not realizing how popular of an immigration spot was New England for that community.  As such, I was prepared for that culture to be on display in today’s film, Mystic Pizza (1988), set in Mystic, Connecticut.

A big part of Portuguese culture is Catholicism, and it is appropriate that Mystic Pizza begins with a Catholic wedding.  However, as the priest is reminding Josephine “Jojo” Barboza (Lili Taylor) and William “Bill” Montijo (Vincent D’Onofrio) about the covenant into which they are about to enter, Jojo faints.  That puts an end to the ceremony, but the next day she goes to work as if nothing happened.  I suppose that is not entirely accurate as she explains to her best friends and co-workers, sisters Daisy (Julia Roberts) and Katherine “Kat” Arújo (Annabeth Gish), that as Mass began, Jojo felt as if her whole life was laid out before her.  In other words, she felt trapped.  To his credit, Bill seems to be taking the development well, visiting Jojo at work where they declare their continued love for one another.  Indeed, bygones are given as they all go out to their local watering hole.  While there, in comes Charles Gordon Windsor Jr. (Adam Storke).  With a name like that, you can tell he is not from around there.  His red Porsche is another tell.  He catches Daisy’s eye when he boldly makes a bet that he can hit the bullseye of a dart board three times in a row, while also taking a shot of tequila in between each toss.  Though he only nails the mark twice, it is sufficient to impress Daisy to play pool with him.  Because he had come with another woman, nothing more is said between them, but a few days later, he is sitting in her living room.  While this is unfolding, the Yale bound Kat takes on a babysitting job for Tim Travers (William R. Moses).  He is a successful architect in the area for a little bit while he works on a nearby house.  He has brought with him his little daughter, Phoebe Travers (Porscha Radcliffe), who needs looking after while her mom, Nicki Travers (Janet Zarish), is away in London on her own business.  Please note that I am already disjointed with the flow of the plot because the story focuses fairly equally on the lives of Daisy, Jojo, and Kat.  Now that I have introduced the three of them and their love interests, it is matter of giving you a sense of how they each evolve.  While Bill and Jojo’s relationship begins the movie, it goes nowhere for a while as Jojo remains unsure of her commitment.  There is no lack of love between them, but it is Bill who wants them to make their fooling around honest by the two of them getting married.  Eventually, he says he is through with her until she finally agrees to marriage, but even then she hesitates.  As that plays out, the interactions between Charles and Daisy become more serious.  Eventually, he admits that the reason he is not in law school where he is supposed to be is because he had been kicked out for cheating on an exam.  She makes him promise to not lie again, but then she finds him at a country club with another woman.  She goes ballistic, filling his Porsche with dead fish, until he tells her that the person in question is his sister.  As a sign of his good character, he forgives her and invites her to dinner with his parents.  Unfortunately, this ends in tears when it becomes apparent that she had been brought into their home to spite his parents.  Finally, there is Kat and Tim.  This is the most uncomfortable part of the film.  As this late teenager and grown man interact over keeping an eye on Phoebe, they find they have a lot in common despite the age gap.  Eventually, he invites her to spend some time alone together, with Jojo volunteering to stay with Phoebe.  Sadly, it becomes physically intimate, which is made awkward when they come home to find Nicki home earlier than expected.  Tim says nothing as a shocked Kat departs with Jojo.  Kat is in a daze until the pizzeria is visited by Hector “The Fireside Gourmet” Freshette (Louis Turenne), a food critic on local television.  For weeks, the girls have been trying to get their boss, Leona (Conchata Ferell), to invite The Fireside Gourmet to come to their establishment, confident that one taste of her special pizza will impress him and thus drum up new business.  This comes as Jojo finally relents and agrees to a wedding.  At the reception, at the restaurant of course, Charles arrives and asks for forgiveness from Daisy.  She accepts, but only after putting him to work helping dish out ice cream.  Also, Leona gives Kat a check to help cover her upcoming college expenses.  The final shot is of our three main characters thinking about their future.

In thinking about the futures of Mystic Pizza’s three leading ladies, the side of me that wishes I had an Ivy League education wanted Kat to succeed.  It also helped that between Daisy and Jojo, Kat deemed to be the most virtuous. Though it is meant in a derogatory way, Daisy refers to her as “St. Kat.”  Kat does have a little bit of moral high ground to which to cling, if only in a specifically Catholic manner.  Early in the film, she is seen as coming home from Mass with her mother (Joanna Merlin).  When Mrs. Arújo asks whether Daisy, who had not been with them, fulfilled the Sabbath obligation, Daisy clearly lies and says she had been the night before.  In case that sounds strange, what Daisy is referring to is the Saturday Vigil Mass, which is held on Saturday evenings.  It is all the same readings, but the Church gives its adherents some options to make sure everyone goes.  However, because he had seen her out the previous night, we know that she did not follow this stricture.  Speaking of strictures, there is one scene in particular that I appreciated from a Catholic perspective.  One night, Bill and Jojo are getting familiar, if you will, when he looks up and at the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus the Barbozas have in their living room.  The sight of the relic convinces Bill that he has to stop.  It is at this point that he brings up the issue of marriage for the first time since their last attempt.  He accuses her of using him only for physical pleasure, and he is not entirely wrong.  As I have said in many reviews when the issue of pre-marital sex comes up, coitus is something about which the Church has rules.  That makes it sound stricter than it is, and these kinds of perceptions lead to many leaving the Faith, unfortunately.  However, the answer to why it is important to not have sex before marriage is found in the failed wedding at the beginning.  Though the priest says a bunch of things that are not part of the real marriage liturgy, the part he nails is when he describes it as a covenant.  In it, a husband cleaves himself to his wife, becoming one flesh.  She cannot deal with this aspect, and even after she has finally taken her vows is she talking about her need for individuality.  Without the Sacrament, sex is thus meaningless, or at least less so without God involved.

Then again, few people in Mystic Pizza, outside of Mrs. Arújo, seem to care about God’s involvement.  They are what is sometimes referred to as “cultural Catholics,” people who identify with the Church but do not follow all her precepts.  Still, I will take them over no association with the Faith, as I would take this film over many others.