| Mystic Pizza | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Donald Petrie |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Amy Holden Jones |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Tim Suhrstedt |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | David McHugh |
| Distributed by | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
Release dates | |
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million[1] |
| Box office | $14 million[1] |
Mystic Pizza is a 1988 Americanromanticcomedy-drama film directed byDonald Petrie in his feature directorial debut, set in the coastal town ofMystic, Connecticut, and starringAnnabeth Gish,Julia Roberts, andLili Taylor.[2] The film follows the coming-of-age of three young Portuguese-American waitresses at the titularpizza parlor. It received positive reviews, withRoger Ebert writing, "I have a feeling thatMystic Pizza may someday become known for the movie stars it showcased back before they became stars. All of the young actors in this movie have genuine gifts."[3][4] It also markedMatt Damon's film debut.
Sisters Kat and Daisy Araújo, and their friend Josephina "JoJo" Barboza, are youngPortuguese-American women working as waitresses at Mystic Pizza, a pizza parlor owned by Leona and her husband Vic in the fishing town ofMystic, Connecticut.
JoJo is engaged to Bill but faints at their wedding because she has reservations. The weight of responsibility of marriage and family hits her all at once and she is overcome.
She wants to continue having a relationship with Bill until she is ready to be married. She loves her physical relationship with Bill but he wants more. Bill breaks up with her because she will not commit, although it is clear they both love each other.
Kat and Daisy are opposites. Kat, the younger sister, is an aspiring astronomer. She has been accepted toYale University on a partial scholarship and, in addition to waitressing at Mystic Pizza and babysitting, is working at theMystic Seaport Whaling Museum‘s planetarium. In contrast, glamorous Daisy's goal is to have as much fun as possible.
Daisy meets Charles, a rich young man, at a bar. The two begin a relationship, much to her mother's dismay. At a family dinner, Charles's relatives make insensitive comments about Daisy's Portuguese ethnicity, and Charles overreacts. Daisy breaks up with him, accusing him of using her to rebel against his parents.
Kat becomes infatuated with Tim, an architect and Yale graduate who has hired her to babysit his four-year-old daughter Phoebe while his wife works in England. A relationship develops between them, and they sleep together.
Tensions rise between the two sisters: Kat criticizes Daisy for being promiscuous, which Daisy resents, since Kat is having an affair with a married man. However, when Tim’s wife Nicki returns, Tim rejects Kat. Daisy consoles her sister, and they reconcile.
A television food critic known as "The Fireside Gourmet" unexpectedly visits Mystic Pizza. He takes a few bites of one pizza slice, jots notes, pays, and leaves. His approval can do wonders for a restaurant, but they are not optimistic.
A few days later, Tim brings Phoebe to Mystic Pizza because she wants to say goodbye to Kat, as her family is leaving town. Tim gives Kat a check to help cover her tuition expenses, but she tears it up just as Fireside Gourmet’s latest show airs and he gives the restaurant his highest rating.
JoJo marries Bill, Kat accepts a loan from Leona, and Daisy and Charlie reconcile at the wedding. The film ends with the three women overlooking the water from the restaurant's balcony, reminiscing about their time together and wondering about the future—and what Leona puts in the pizza!
The title of the film was inspired by a pizza shop inMystic, Connecticut. ScreenwriterAmy Holden Jones was summering in the area and chose Mystic Pizza as the focus of her story about the lives of three young waitresses.[5]
Jones was set to direct but was replaced by Petrie, who made his feature film directorial debut.[1] The film was alsoAlfred Uhry's screenwriting debut.[1]
The filming began October 12, 1987, and was due to last six weeks.[1] The film's plot is set in Mystic,[6] but most of the filming locations were in neighboring towns. The building used for the pizza restaurant was a converted home inStonington Borough at 70 Water St.[7] After the film's release, the real-life Mystic Pizza building[8] in downtown Mystic was renovated to resemble the film set. The Windsor family home, the wedding reception restaurant, the Peg Leg Pub pool hall, and the fishing docks were also filmed in Stonington Borough. The hitchhiking incident takes place on North Main Street inStonington Town. The Araújo home is inPawcatuck, Connecticut; the lobster business and the wedding church are inNoank, Connecticut. Tim Travers' home and the Windsors' country club are inWatch Hill, Rhode Island. The most notable scenes that take place in Mystic were filmed at theMystic Seaport planetarium and at theMystic River Bascule Bridge.[9]
Goldwyn spent a company-record $6.5 million on prints, advertising, and other marketing activities,[2] including tie-ins withDomino's Pizza and others.[1] The film had 100 pre-opening screenings[2][1] and premiered in Mystic, Connecticut on October 18, 1988.[1] It was released on October 21, 1988.[1]
Upon release, the film received mixed reviews,[10] which praised the performances by the three lead actresses. It received "two thumbs up" from popular film criticsSiskel and Ebert,[11] giving particular praise to the three female leads, including Gish, whom Ebert likened to a "youngKatharine Hepburn".[3]Variety called it "a deftly told coming-of-age story about three young femmes as they explore their different destinies, mostly through romance, it's genuine and moving, with enough edge to impress contemporary audiences."[2]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 78% based on reviews from 27 critics. The website's critics consensus reads: "Mystic Pizza is like its namesake food: it's cheesy, topped with romance, and rises to the occasion."[12]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[13]
On January 13, 2009,Mystic Pizza andSay Anything... were released as a double feature on DVD.[14] On April 5, 2011,Mystic Pizza was released on Blu-ray.[15]
On January 22, 2019, it was announced thatMystic Pizza would be adapted into a stage musical.Melissa Etheridge would write the score, whileGordon Greenberg would direct and co-write the book with Sas Goldberg.[16] This came years after a fictional Broadway musical adaptation of the film had served as a plot point in the early part ofseason 2 of theNBC sitcom30 Rock in 2007.[17]
The world premiere of the musical version ofMystic Pizza was produced byOgunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine from September 1, 2021, through October 2, 2021. The production, which featured songs byMelissa Etheridge and other pop songs of the 1980s, starred Krystina Alabado as Daisy, Gianna Yanelli as Jojo, and Kyra Kennedy as Kat. The production was directed by Casey Hushion and featured a book by Sandy Rustin, choreography by Liz Ramos, and musical supervision by Carmel Dean, with Kristin Stowell as music director. Executive producers were Michael Barra and Allison Bressi of Lively McCabe Entertainment.[18]
In 2025, the production directed by Hushion played at thePaper Mill Playhouse with a majority of the same cast from Ogunquit.[19]
The film premiered 18 Oct 1988 in Mystic, CT, as noted in a 23 Oct 1988 LAT brief, and received a mixed critical reaction
