| Product: |
Mortal Thoughts (DVD) |
| Date: |
14/05/06 (198 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: An entertaining thriller
Disadvantages: Seems rather dated now
CAST/CREW/CREDITS
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Mortal Thoughts was released in 1991 and starred Demi Moore as Cynthia, Glenne Headly as Joyce (whatever happened to Glenne Headly?), Bruce Willis as James, Harvey Keitel as Detective Woods and John Pankow as Arthur. The film was directed by Alan Rudolph, produced by John Fiedler and jointly written by William Reilly and Claude Kerven. Rated an 18 certificate the film runs for just over 100 minutes.
The film was filmed mostly on location in New Jersey and New York, USA.
PLOT TEASER
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Cynthia is married to Arthur Kellogg and they have a couple of kids. Joyce is her best friend and is married to James Urbanski. The two women have been best of friends since childhood and run a beauty shop together. The film starts off with Cynthia talking to the police about the murder of James. Joyce had a very volatile relationship with the abusive, drug-taking and hard-drinking James and had threatened to kill him on numerous occasions even considering putting rat poison in the sugar bowl at one stage but backing down at the last minute.
Cynthia, Joyce and James visit a fun fair and later he is found dead - cue the police investigation. In a series of flashbacks Cynthia tells the police how Joyce killed James and how she helped her pal dispose of the body and tales of how later more tragic events unfold. As the story progresses you see the friendship between Joyce and Cynthia disintegrate and trust being broken as Cynthia’s evidence twists the knife deeper and deeper into her best friend’s back.
ANALYSIS
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I had seen Mortal Thoughts several times back in the early 90s when it was released and quite enjoyed it so was quite happy to watch it again quite recently. Funnily enough what had previously seemed a really enjoyable and suspenseful film now seemed quite dated, probably due to the hairstyles sported by the two leading ladies.
Demi Moore sports a very big bushy 80s hairstyle throughout the film (I can imagine she’d cringe if she saw herself now). Even back then she was a powerful actress and extremely convincing as the woman who is trying to convince the police of her own innocence and partially unwilling participation in a tragic series of events. You end up feeling rather sorry for her character right up till the end of the film and almost feel that she was quite justified in her actions. Her character on the one hand tells her best friend to stick to their joint story that they don’t know what happened to James, but on the other hand she’s telling the police that her friend did indeed kill her husband.
Glenne Headly was almost over the top in her acting in this film but I feel the character was written that way. She’s very verbose and is quick to make decisions without thinking them through, or so we’re led to believe. As the story is mostly told by Moore we see scenes of Headly at home with her in-laws acting out the part of a grieving widow and sneaking off with Moore to ensure they keep their stories straight. The scenes with the in-laws are noisy and seemingly typical of working class loud mouthed Americans.
Bruce Willis (Demi Moore’s husband at the time this film was made) was brilliant as the verbally and physically abusive husband who gets killed off quite violently. I’ve never seen him in such a negative role before or since this film and surprisingly enough he really pulled it off really well. He makes the character so intensely loathsome that you almost feel like taking a hatchet to him yourself (note: I said “almost” - I’m not condoning murder)!
Harvey Keitel was as usual quite adept in his role of serious detective on a mission to find out the truth at any cost. I have a lot of respect for Keitel as an actor and his role in this film did not change my mind. He’s believable and enigmatic at the same time, even somewhat avuncular - you see him as someone you’d want to open up to and eventually the truth does indeed come out.
John Pankow is not someone I’d seen before this film (nor do I recall seeing him since) and his role was not central enough for me to comment any more than he was passable in his role as a concerned husband who doesn’t want his wife mixing with the murderous Joyce.
The film starts and ends with home movie footage of two young girls which one can only assume is of the two leads in their childhood just to prove how long they’ve been friends. The end of the film clears up any misconception about how the murder of Willis’ character really took place although I felt there were some loose ends which were not tied up neatly enough for my mind. The reason for the second murder is not cleared up at the end which left me feeling cheated somehow! I can’t really discuss the loose ends to which I refer as they would give away a major part of the plot and that’s tantamount to review suicide!
WHERE TO GET IT
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You can get hold of the DVD of this film on Amazon for £4.97 or from sendit.com for £4.99 or try renting from your usual DVD rental source.
CONCLUSION
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Mortal Thoughts could be quite easily described as a film noir with a slight feminist slant; it’s about women fighting back against abuse and then fighting for survival to avoid being caught. Not that I’m advocating murder under any circumstances - I think the message of the film seems to be that you will always get caught if you commit such a heinous crime no matter how clever you think you are.
The film is an 18 certificate and rightly so; there’s a lot of bad language and scenes of violence, especially scenes of the first murder (have I given away too much by saying “first murder”?) where there’s quite a lot of blood spilt!
Overall I’d rate Mortal Thoughts a 6 out of 10, although if I’d reviewed it 10 years ago I might have rated it higher, as I said earlier in the review, it seems quite dated now.
Thanks for reading.
Summary: Some over the top acting make this film seem somewhat comical in parts
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