Mortal Thoughts (1991)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I'm not a big fan of Demi Moore but I have to admit that her performance in this film is very good. Bruce Willis does what he does best; that is to say, he's annoying to the point where I was hoping someone would kill him and put us all out of our misery, even though I thoroughly enjoyed his character when he wasn't being mean to his wife. Glenne Headly was amazing and Harvey Keitel, one of my favorites, was once again the consummate cop.But the best part of this movie, for me, was the realism. The New Jersey accents sounded natural and unaffected, especially Harvey Keitel's pronunciation of Joyce's name as "Jerce". The homes looked like regular folks lived there, not like designer-inspired movie sets. The clothes were real, the hairdos were real, and the way the characters behaved was real.I've seen this film a couple of times and I haven't found any glaring plot holes; everything follows a believable and sensible course. If Demi Moore's character is lying, she's doing a damn good job of it.The only problem I have with the story -- and it is a problem I have with many stories -- is that at some point the characters completely abandon their day-to-day lives. After Jimmy's funeral it seems that Joyce never returns to the beauty shop that she owns and Cynthia and Cookie never work another day in their lives, even though all three women depend on the income from their jobs. I would have preferred to see how Joyce's alleged descent into madness affected her business, how her customers reacted to her, and how she and the other stylists interacted during working hours.Overall I give this film an 8 out of 10. Great performances by the main characters, solid storyline, and nothing fake to distract from the story.

Bryan Singer's 'The Usual Suspects' was itself a rather unusual thriller: almost the entire plot consisted of a criminal suspect telling the police a lie. By literally representing the character's words in images, the film exploited the trust that any movie-watcher has to put in what they see; the very concept of cinema only works if the audience can believe their own eyes, so it's a somewhat underhand trick to take advantage of this. But 'The Usual Suspects' nonetheless worked as a film, for three reasons. Firstly, the lie was extraordinarily entertaining in itself. Secondly, it's essentially falsity was brilliantly revealed. And thirdly, this revelation forced the viewer to reconsider everything they had seen in the film. If all movies were like this, cinema would die, but as an isolated film, it definitely made the grade.Alan Rudolph's curiously named 'Mortal Thoughts' (surely "morbid thoughts" are actually what feature in this film) is a kind of precursor to 'The Usual Susepcts', but less acclaimed, and with good reason. The basic tale is less interesting than in the later film; there's no cleverness in the revelation, and the actual truth does not anyway fundamentally change one's opinion of the characters. The film doesn't even try and fool the audience: Harvey Keitel's policeman tells the witness throughout that he doesn't believe what she is saying, and once you accept that the woman may be lying, then the possibilities are limitless (something Singer dealt with deftly by only uncovering the lie at the very end, before it truly sinks into the audience that if the story was a pack of lies, then the truth could be anything). The result is a film that is reasonably watchable, but hardly distinguished. Yet in the true story, revealed at the end, there's actually a tale of human drama that might have driven a pretty strong film. The secondary tale of someone merely lying about such a story, however, is comparatively dull.

The hairdresser, wife and mother Cynthia Kellogg (Demi Moore) is in police department being interrogated by the experienced detective John Woods (Harvey Keitel) and his partner, Detective Linda Nealon (Billie Neal). Through flashbacks, she reveals how her best friend and colleague Joyce Urbanski (Glenne Headly) married the scum and nasty James Urbanski (Bruce Willis); how hard Joyce's life with James was; and why Joyce became a criminal. The smart detective finds some contradictions in her statement and presses Cynthia, trying to disclose the truth of two murders."Mortal Thoughts" is an intriguing and underrated low budget thriller. The storyline is simple but the tight screenplay and outstanding performances of the cast are impressive. Demi Moore performs a mother living in the dilemma between disclosing a secret and hiding the truth. Harvey Keitel in the role of an astute detective is amazing, finding the controversies in the testimony of Cynthia. Glenne Headly is also great, in the role of an abused and unsecured low class woman. Bruce Willis has a different role, performing a disgusting drug addicted. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Pensamentos Mortais" ("Mortal Thoughts")Note: On 15 May 2016, I saw this film again.

SPOILERS THROUGH:For some reason, although I should have liked this, my thoughts about Mortal thoughts were all negative. This was an attempt at a thriller, a psychological thriller, a genre I happen to love. Only trouble is, it wasn't very interesting. Probably my least favorite Demi Moore movie. Here are some of the reasons I didn't care for this(in no special order.): The whole plot was way to contrived and there was nothing frightening about it, though it was slightly creepy(But still didn't manage to fascinate.) The SECOND thing is the Bruce Willis character who really annoyed me. In fact almost all the characters annoyed me come to think of it. Very few were very likable.The movie featured amusement park scenes that could have been mysterious and intriguing-great setting-but wound up unappealing and lacked any sense of intrigue.The movie got to gory too(played almost like a horror movie then a psychological thriller at times)-and the "twist" was nothing to write home about AT ALL. And the way it unraveled wasn't that great. Also, the combo of Moore and Willis on film together wasn't very exciting.This was a movie I thought I'd like a lot but wound up actually disliking. This rates about a 3 out of 10.