Directed by Robert Altman protege Alan Rudolph (WELCOME TO L.A., CHOOSE ME, THE MODERNS), MORTAL THOUGHTS is a low-key thriller revolving around the friendship of two women, a friendship that--one suspects--is the most important relationship in either of their lives.
When we first see Cynthia Kellogg (Demi Moore), she's confessing to police detectives John Woods (Harvey Keitel) and Linda Nealon (Billie Neal)--and a video camera. Her story begins with the wedding of her best friend Joyce (Glenne Headly) to handsome, loutish James Urbanski (Bruce Willis). Joyce
and Cynthia work together at Joyce's beauty salon, Clip 'n' Dye, in Bayonne, New Jersey, and as Cynthia describes countless ugly incidents the viewer begins to suspect the reason she's sitting in a police station. A messy murder, and an inept coverup, follow in due course.
While not entirely successful, MORTAL THOUGHTS is surprisingly compelling. Headly and Moore go all-out with their working-girl mannerisms, but their friendship rings true and their ill-considered decisions are made strangely believable by their desperation. As the loathsome James, Bruce Willis is
flawlessly cast; he's a smug, self-absorbed bully whose twin interests seem to be brutalizing Joyce and Cynthia, pleading with the latter to show him her breasts long past the point where anyone would excuse it as a joke. He's monstrous enough that anyone can see why either woman could kill him,
but radiates enough lumpen charm that one can also imagine why Joyce married him in the first place. leave a comment