Mirage (1995)

Sick Product of a Sick System

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

An Exercise In Nonsense

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This movie was so bad it was funny! For awhile there I thought I was actually watching a parody of a bad movie (a la "For Your Consideration"). The "cliffhanger" scene at the end had me laughing until my insides hurt. The script was dreadful enough, but coupled with Sean Young's terrible acting -- especially while she explains the entire plot in great detail (complete with flashbacks) while dangling off a cliff -- makes it a truly classically bad movie worth watching! In fact the fakey shots in this scene reminded me of an Ed Wood movie. I still can't believe how this thing got made. First of all, how did such a bad script get the green light? How did star actors get attached? Were they at low points in their careers? Questions, questions.

If you've ever wondered what "Vertigo" would look like if rewritten by James Andronica and directed by Paul Williams (no, not THAT Paul Williams) then "Mirage" is the perfect movie for you. For everyone else, well...Edward Olmos takes over the Jimmy Stewart part of the cop who's being used because of his problems (in Vertigo if was with heights, in Mirage, its being afraid to pull the trigger) by his old buddy, Lt. Randazzo (played by scriptwriter James Andronica) and Donald Gale (played by director Paul Williams!). They hire Olmos character to keep track of Gale's wife (played by Sean Young) who they say has multiple personality disorder. Instead of course, its a big insurance scam. What they don't count on is for Young's character (like Kim Novak) falling for the broken down ex-Cop played by Olmos.Why watch this film instead of "Vertigo"? Well, Sean Young does a nude scene (and the ladies get to see Olmo's butt, if that's an attraction) and ...and...well, I don't see another reason.Williams, Young and Andronica teamed again for a movie called "Men" this same year, but Olmos apparently got while the getting was good.As a home movie, where you get together with your friends and write a script and all play parts, this is not bad. As a actually professional movie, this is not good.

I guess this is one where you have to pay more attention than I did. I knew something wasn't quite right, but missed the significance of the out-of-place scene with the inconsequential character. So, someone more alert than me would have figured this one out a lot sooner, but would probably have enjoyed the film less. It was OK. It had some interesting stuff going on, but not really enough. Good work from Sean Young, who doesn't seem (to me) to get the credit she deserves, or the good roles that go with it. Even a decent performance from Edward James Olmos, who I've never really cared much for. The rest of the cast was utterly forgettable. They badly needed a better actor to play Lt. Randazzo. Decent photography and evocation of the Coachella Valley. Overall, it's worth checking out on cable if you like Sean Young. Otherwise, skip it. Grade: C-

It may be difficult to believe, but the basic plot of this abysmal flick has been lifted from Hitchcock's perennial classic, "Vertigo". To see Edward James Olmos in the part once played by James Stewart is heart-breaking; Sean Young is better, but still a poor substitute for Kim Novak.