Srandon and Hoffman play a couple whose daughter is tragically killed soon before her planned wedding to Gyllenhall. The couple deal with her death in a number of ways, and Gyllenhall moves in and becomes part of the family. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all you know about these people. Their grief and emotions are not given any context. The tone of the entire movie is also inconsistent. At times, the characters come across as aloof and cynical, and then they rather unexpectedly have an emotional epiphany and catharsis. Again, given all the positive elements of the movie, the lack of cohesion is disappointing. Overall, this movie provides some moments of clarity about the process of grief. However, "Moonlight Mile" never truly comes together to form a cohesive whole, resulting in some maudlin moments.

Brad Silberling has had a rather long and completely undistinguished Hollywood career. Aside from helming City of Angels, one of the most useless remakes of all time, he did a lot of TV work. Two words: Cop Rock.

Thus, Moonlight Mile came as something of a surprise; Silberling's first truly good flick. Much of this has to do with the amazing cast. How on earth Silberling, who also wrote the autobiographical script, managed to sign such incredible talent on the strength of his previous career is utterly beyond me. But then, stranger things have happened.

Joe Nast (the brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal, fresh off cult-favorites Donnie Darko and Bubble Boy) is living with the parents of his fiancee after her murder in a diner shooting (she was an innocent bystander). Her parents, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and Jojo (Susan Sarandon) are understandably devastated, and latch onto Joe as something of a replacement kid. Joe is desperately confused about everything. Until, that is, he meets Bertie (Ellen Pompeo, recently found in Daredevil, unfortunately for her) and finds himself deeply attracted to her. Meanwhile, he's being taken on as a partner in Ben's commercial property business, which is trying to buy a bar at which Bertie moonlights, in order to pave the way for a big development envisioned by the movie's evil overlord, Mulcahey (Dabney Coleman). The parents have brought a civil suit against the shooter, and have a parasitic attorney (Holly Hunter) who's looking to make a name for herself with this case. And Joe's also holding onto his own secrets, which could send them all spinning out of control.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, in this film gives a top-notch performance. Gyllenhaal's speech at the trial is almost as good as the "smurf sex" rant in Donnie Darko. Hoffman, whose career has been on a gradual downward slide for years, returns to the form that held him in such good stead before, and including, Marathon Man. Even the normally unwatchable Sarandon turns in her best performance since The Hunger. Hunter turns in a rare excellent performance (she hasn't been this good since, probably not coincidentally, The Firm; she reprises Gary Busey's role here), and a raft of minor characters turning in star-quality performances help the whole thing hold together.

As should be obvious from the plot synopsis, this ain't your normal romance. But then, Jake Gyllenhaal's presence in any flick seems to indicate it's not going to be your normal whatever (Donnie Darko was not your normal teen comedy, Highway was not your normal road flick, etc.). Moonlight Mile may be a chick flick, but it's like someone crossed the script for a chick flick with the script for a David Lynch film, then hit the puree button on the blender. The end result is twisted and wonderful. Definitely worth a rental. *** ½