MORTAL THOUGHTS. Directed by Alan Rudolph; written by William Reilly & Claude Kerven; produced by John Fiedler and Mark Tarlov for Columbia. Starring Demi Moore, Glenne Headly and Bruce Willis. Rated R.
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Mortal Thoughts is a thinking moviegoer's action movie—a good blend of "artsy," imaginative moviemaking, and good, old-fashioned suspense.
Its story of violence, friendship, and responsibility is told in flashback. But the flashbacks don't tell the whole story all at once, or in a completely reliable way. The way the movie manipulates these scenes creates the suspense, and it's an effective technique.
The actors help out, too, although none of the characters are in any way admirable, and only one is even very likable. That one is Cynthia (Moore), whose story to the police provides the framework for the flashbacks.
The brutish husband (Willis) of her best friend Joyce (Headly) has been found dead, you see, and Cynthia has information pertaining to his murder. As the detective (Harvey Keitel) proceeds to interview her, though, he finds things getting more, rather than less, confused.
Moore is attractive and appealing as Cynthia and handles her lion's share of screen time well.
Headly's character is less well defined, unfortunately; it would have been interesting to learn more about why she was attracted to the despicable James in the first place.
The minor characters (especially John Pankow as Cynthia's husband, and Keitel) are all excellent.
And although I have never been much of a fan of Bruce Willis, I must admit he does an outstanding job here with this character.
James is a man who is totally loathsome, worthless and with no redeeming features whatsoever. Willis plays him perfectly (I won't be catty and ask: "but, is he really acting?") and makes the audience hate and fear him as much as most of the other characters do.
May 22, 1991