Mortal Thoughts (1991)

Review by All Movie Guide
Director Alan Rudolph takes a dramatic detour from his typical dreamy style with this gripping tale of a blue-collar homicide investigation. Bruce Willis plays a more vicious version of his familiar working-class blowhard, here, a poster boy for spousal abuse. When the police find his corpse, his wife (Glenne Headley) and her best friend (Demi Moore) are brought in for interrogation. A completely absorbing study of the dynamics of a dysfunctional marriage and an unusual friendship, its depiction of the way in which murder can erupt in the midst of a seemingly ordinary milieu is utterly convincing. While the film emphasizes the unhappiness of both women with their husbands, Headley clearly has the worse deal, and it makes clear how, given the financial pains of the alternatives, she would rather joke about killing her husband than suing for divorce. The fascination/revulsion of Moore with her friend's marriage worries even her dim-witted husband (John Pankow), but she fails to heed his warning. The willingness of the two women to blandly accept what they've done, if only for a time, is an unsettling reminder of the banality of evil. Willis and Headley give beautifully nuanced performances, but the revelation here is Moore, in what may be her best work. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide