Blue Moon

Blue Moon is a bittersweet, bordering on sad, dialogue-heavy biopic of Lorenz Hart, the 1930-era lyricist who worked with Richard Rogers (Rogers and Hart). The high point of Lorenz Hart’s partnership with Rogers is writing the lyrics of Blue Moon in 1934. The song Blue Moon is an American standard that everyone still recognizes.

Due to Lorenz Hart’s severe alcoholism, Rogers teams up with Oscar Hammerstein creating the dream team of Rogers and Hammerstein. This film, Blue Moon, takes place almost entirely in Manhattan’s legendary Sardi’s Restaurant on the night that Rogers and Hammerstein’s, Oklahoma!, opens on Broadway, essentially ending the Rogers and Hart team.

Ethan Hawke is convincingly tragic in portraying Hart as a lonely, low self-esteemed, pseudo intellectual, who struggles with life. His constant stream of witty consciousness throughout the evening well defines the demons Lorenz is dealing with in life. Hawke is outstanding as Lorenz Hart, and it is easy to see he deserves his nomination as Best Actor in the 2026 Academy Awards.

Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart © 2025 Detour Filmproduction − All right reserved.

Blue Moon also stars Bobby Cannavale who is present in most scenes but does not contribute much to the conversation. Cannavale’s role is to restrain Hart from spiraling down into alcohol. Bobby’s performance is solid as the inviting and friendly bartender.

Lorenz Hart and his Bartender (Bobby Cannavale) © 2025 Detour Filmproduction − All right reserved.

Margaret Qualley gives her usual charming and smooth-talking performance. Her character further defines another of Hart’s life issues when she states, “I don’t love you in that way” after a long discussion of her and their weekend together. However, her modern manner-of-speak and looks seems out of place, maybe a bit too contemporary.

If you enjoy dialogue-heavy films, Blue Moon is filled with scholarly conversations about Hart’s views, opinions and preferences. The film is not historically exact but introduces you to a very complex and flawed character.

© 2025 Detour Filmproduction − All right reserved.

Published two days after Mikaela Shiffrin in Slalom – and one day after Alysa Liu in Figure Skating – won Gold Medals in the 2026 Milan Olympics – 2/20/26!