‘Mystic Pizza’ Gave Julia Roberts Her Start

Mystic Pizza a breakout film

If  the movie “Mystic Pizza” were human it’d be old enough to drink.

Twenty-one years ago. That’s how long ago ”Mystic Pizza” came out, and it was the beginning of Julia Roberts’ road to stardom. Her performance as Daisy Arujo was her first starring role in a feature film.

Just for fun

Even though Mystic Pizza is older than some of my siblings, I have never seen it. It’s not a money issue; I wouldn’t need a cash advance to rent it or buy it. With the cable package I am already paying for I can watch Mystic Pizza on television any time, but I haven’t ever felt the compulsion to watch it.

Mystic Pizza cost $6 million to make, and it brought in more than twice that much at the box office. There were only a few reviews of Mystic Pizza on Rotten Tomatoes, but now I am definitely intrigued. Here are some excerpts from the online reviews.

Emanuel Levy, emanuellevy.com

“Laced with heart, soul, and humor, “Mystic Pizza” is familiar fare in terms of place and dramatic situations, but the characters are relatively new in Hollywood pictures, being Portuguese-American. It’s to the credit of the screenwriter Amy Holden Jones, Perry Hoze, and Alfred Uhry (who would script the Oscar-winning “Driving Miss Daisy” a year later) that they find the right balance between the genuine emotional and the schmaltzy, between the particular and universal.

The director and his writers offer warm, funny glimpses into the lives and loves of the young women, who are about to cross into adulthood, forever leaving adolescence behind. The Connecticut town of Mystic Pizza is portrayed as a decent place to live, though protags, like most small-town heroines, can’t wait to leave the place and move on with their lives.”

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

“Director Donald Petrie draws out impressive and idiosyncratic performances from Julia Roberts as Daisy, Annabeth Gish as Kat, and Lili Taylor as Jojo. Just as no one in town can figure out the mystery ingredients in the sauce at the Mystic Pizza, these three young women can’t unlock the mysteries of commitment, love and sex in one summer. It will take a lifetime of experience.”

Brian Webster, Apollo Guide

“You can tell that Mystic Pizza was one of Roberts’ early roles, because she’s billed below Gish. Gish (no relation to Lillian or Dorothy) has had an active and modestly successful career in movies and television since playing Roberts’ sister, but it’s been nothing compared to her co-star, whose career skyrocketed with Pretty Woman and has never looked back.

Mystic Pizza has ‘quirky’ written all over it, but it’s quirky in a mainstream kind of way. Kat and Daisy are sisters, Kat the Ivy League-bound smart one and Daisy the raunchy bad girl. Jojo is their friend, trying to decide whether to do the usual small-town thing – marry her beau, Bill …  and start making babies. The three work at the local pizzeria – Mystic Pizza – which is at the centre of their social lives, overseen by the colourful proprietor and den-mother, Leona.”

Roger Ebert

“There is a certain breathlessness about the summer after high school, which “Mystic Pizza” captures with an effortless charm.

Childhood is officially behind. Adulthood is still a mystery, but one that it is now possible to begin solving. Romance still has the intensity of a teenage crush, but for some teenagers it also begins to require a certain idealism; the loved one must be not merely perfect, but good.”

…

“”Mystic Pizza” takes these three couples and follows them through several months. Each romance turns into a hard lesson to be learned, but one of the nice qualities of this movie is how lightly it moves on its feet. It doesn’t hammer its points home, it doesn’t go for big, telegraphed scenes of heartbreak, and its single best scene is used to make a fairly subtle ethical point.”

…

“I have a feeling that “Mystic 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. Roberts is a major beauty with a fierce energy. Gish projects intelligence and stubbornness like a young Katharine Hepburn. And Taylor, who is given what’s intended as a more comic role, finds human comedy in her ongoing problems with the earnest and chaste Bill.
I have a feeling that “Mystic 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. Roberts is a major beauty with a fierce energy. Gish projects intelligence and stubbornness like a young Katharine Hepburn.”

I guess that Roger Ebert knew what he was talking about