Mortal Thoughts (1991)

Mortal Thoughts-Review

Great movie! Demi Moore does an excellent job. Bruce Willis plays a short role, but does a great job as well. Definitely entertaining and worth watching. June 30, 2008

Disappointed

I enjoyed the accent. I enjoyed the period costuming and hair styles. That is pretty much where it ends though.

I don't think that the movie made it 30 seconds straight without someone dropping the "F" bomb. The "bad" language was forced and it showed. It did nothing to improve the story. It was like watching Lavern and Shirley with potty mouths.

All of the men in the story were pictured as stupid, controlling and abusive. The two women showed the only intelligence in the movie. Even the male cop was a doughnut eating cliche, trying to get what he wants through intimidation. You can only think of him as stupid.

I watched the movie because it has such glowing reviews and it had Bruce Willis in it. I wish someone would have told me that you had to have the maturity of a high-school sophomore to appreciate the language and exaggerated fighting. By the time you get to the end you are exhausted by all of the yelling and fighting.

Aside from all of that, it was slow, boring and tedious. I would not recommend it to anyone with more than one brain cell. June 7, 2008

Mortal Thoughts

Love the east coast accent with alot of Italian family drama. good suspense, good action, great ending with an unexpected twist. June 2, 2008

Muscular Mystery Set in New Jersey's White Working Class

"Mortal Thoughts" (1991), produced by one of its own stars, Demi Moore, and directed by Alan Rudolph, is very different from that director's usual laidback work. It presents viewers with one tough little low-budget mystery, set in the New Jersey city of Bayonne, among its white, urban working class, in the drug-addled 1980's: check out the big hair.

The film centers on two hairdressers, best friends since infancy, now married, with young children, and working together: Joyce Urbanski, played by Glenne Headley, unhappily married to James (Bruce Willis); and Cynthia Kellogg (Moore), married to Arthur (John Pankow). Harvey Keitel plays police detective John Wood, who comes into their lives. Willis takes big brave chances playing in his wife, Demi Moore's movie, as an obnoxious, drug-addicted, abusive husband who's wearing red pants when he finally gets his. The story's narrated in flashback by Cynthia, as she tells it to the police: there's an aspect of "Rashomon:" here, as we know only what she tells us, and must decide whether her tale is truthful or not. (And we never do get all the mysteries exactly explained.)

Interestingly enough, three of the five principals are of working-class origins themselves. Demi Moore was raised in a series of trailer parks; her family moved 40 times; and she quit school at 16 to work as a pinup. Willis actually grew up in New Jersey, attended Montclair State University there, and worked as a waiter and bartender before finally hitting his stride. Keitel was born in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. The working class roots of these actors surely give a sense of reality and solidity to their portrayals here. Headley is odd man out in this crowd; she's from a pretty classy Connecticut town, and was educated in Switzerland: nevertheless, her portrayal -- and accent-- are accurate. Headley was odd man out among this picture's company in another way: Moore, Willis, and Keitel were all suffering career slumps when they made it.

The death of Joyce's husband sends the two old friends into collusion: both mindful of their young children, they work together to try to clean up their mess. Moore looks beautiful, and her acting is affecting, she's by turns vulnerable, determined, cornered, downcast. She really can be said to carry her own movie. Finally, it's really an uusual pleasure, still, to watch two prime actresses carry a movie such as this. September 12, 2007

INTRIGUE!!! REALLY FINE ACTING!! BRUCE IS GREAT !!!

First let it be known that this is a full screen version DVD. Having said that the movie will hold your attention because of the excellent performances by all of the actors. The story is a real suspense thriller!! You wont be sorry you watched it!!! August 11, 2007

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