Mojave Moon (1996) User Reviews (28)

Don't write this off ...

[bart-117 · 5/10 · 27 February 2005]

It would be easy to dismiss this as just another bad film. Actually, it is a bad film but it's redeemed by a couple of strong elements, most notably the appearance of Angelina Jolie and Danny Aiello. This is one of Jolie's earlier films, coming after Hackers but before her breakout performance in Gia, and you can really see her coming into her own as a star. A star is someone you can't take your eyes off of when they're on screen - Jolie is beautiful and sexy as hell but beyond that, even at this early stage, she's got a certain indescribable something that makes it hard to take your eyes off of her.

Aiello, of course, is great at playing the kind of lovable schmuck he plays in this film. The loser with a heart of gold. In this film he's 50, just gone through a nasty divorce and trying to figure out life in LA. Unlike some of the other posts up here I could totally see him going out to the desert and getting mixed up with some of the crazy characters there. He's got an empty life and he's looking for something - anything - to give him a reason to keep going.

Ann Archer has been better in other things, but she's rarely been made to look more beautiful than this.

On top of all that, it's a great looking film that uses some really cool LA locations. Much of it was shot in Johnnies, a googie style diner on Wilshire Boulevard that Tarantino has used. Other locations include a cool 50's era motel (anyone know where this was?) and of course, the great California desert.

So overall I wouldn't say this is a great film, but it's worth watching.

A sexy, sassy girl named Angelina.

[insomniac_rod · 6/10 · 17 March 2007]

I caught "Mojave Moon" several times on cable but I didn't care about it. I even came to IMDb back in the late 90's and nobody commented about it. It was somehow a rare, obscure independent movie that gained notoriety when Jolie received her first (and only) Oscar. I caught it on a so called art channel.

To be honest, it wasn't until Angelina Jolie made her on-screen appearance with the shortest mini skirt I've ever seen on movies! That girl was stunning.

Then I got hooked in by the plot although it is very strange.

The movie has the typical situations involving a trouble girl that gets everyone in problems and ends up making everybody fool.

To be honest, if it wasn't for Jolie's sexyiness this movie would be still hidden.

slow moving, good heart, with atmosphere

[drystyx · 6/10 · 21 June 2012]

This is a very dry comedy that has a few good spots, few and far between.

It's a mild adventure, in the mode of old Hitchcock with a Monty Python twist. Unfortunately, forty minutes go by before anything more than a pleasant smile is evoked from the viewer.

A lot of this takes place in the Mojave, which is good, and at night, which gives us a "cool warm" feel.

The "everyman" character is very human, and most of the characters are very believable, believe it or not, which is surprising, considering their extreme behavior. Much of what happens has the feel of things that the people involved actually experienced. There is an element of realism in the fantasy.

The pace is "mojave moon", and maybe that explains the title. For the first 40 minutes, you will look at the clock, then the story unfolds. It perks up most with a very funny shootout at close range where no one can hit anything.

This "cool warm Mojave moon" feel is probably the heart of the movie, and probably what was really intended. If so, it works well. I've taken vacations to LA, Vegas, and Laughlin, and rented a car simply to drive through the desert, usually starting in LA, and the "cool Mojave" feel begins, at least for me, after the stop at the atmospheric ostrich farm cafe. From there on, it's the tranquility that this film seems to aim for.

This isn't a laugh riot. It isn't something you'll watch a lot, but it does have "atmosphere". I won't say I'm a fan of the film, but it has a good look, and is perfectly titled.

The full moon brings out the weirdos

[vchimpanzee · 4 August 2005]

Al is divorced and he has moved from New York to Seattle to Los Angeles (I don't even know why Seattle was mentioned). He makes his living selling cars, though he seems to know some people who are ... less than honest.

While Al is eating at Johnie's restaurant with friends Sal and Terry, Elie walks in wearing a skirt so short it should be illegal. Al decides to talk to her and finds out she needs a ride to her mom Julie's place in the Mojave Desert. Al agrees to take her.

When they arrive at Julie's trailer (excuse me, 'movable house'), Julie's boyfriend Boyd is there watching TV. Boyd lights his cigarettes with a blowtorch and treats the gentle and sweet Julie like dirt. Elie goes to the Buffalo Chip Saloon to meet boyfriend Kaiser.

From there, things get weird. I mean REALLY weird.

This is a pretty good movie, with good performances by the leading actors. And plenty of plot twists. But what really makes the movie work is the crazy characters. Such as the tire repairman with the big guns. And then there is the time a man needs a cadaver and two guys hear this and are all too willing to help. One even pulls a gun on someone so the man can have his cadaver right away!

Boyd reminded me of Billy Bob Thornton, though maybe that's because I read about him in Life magazine the day I saw the movie. It would be interesting to see what he would have done with the role. Michael Biehn just made him a demented clown, but an entertaining one.

I have to mention the camera work with the introduction of Elie. They wanted to make sure we noticed her legs!

I wasn't sure whether this was a comedy at first, but by the second half I had to laugh.

Odd and sometimes funny

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 14 August 2013]

Released in 1996, "Mojave Moon" is a black comedy/thriller about an average man in his 50s (Danny Aiello) who is so intrigued by a young woman (Angelina Jolie) that he agrees to drive her to her mom's place in the desert. He then becomes infatuated with the blissful and clueless mother (Anne Archer), but her loony boyfriend looms near (Michael Biehn).

"Mojave Moon" has that quirky, hip flare of movies of the mid-to-late 90s, like "Pulp Fiction", "Michael", "The Way of the Gun" and "American Psycho". If you have a taste for these types of films you might like "Mojave Moon."

Those who want to catch a good glimpse of Angelina Jolie early in her career will also be interested. She was only 20 during filming, but brimming with confidence and allure. She has quite a few scenes where she's not wearing much, including a shower scene that shows her top-nude. I can understand why some might get worked-up about her, but she doesn't trip my trigger. Don't get me wrong, she has an exotically gorgeous face with full lips, but the rest of her is just too slinky for my tastes. But if you find her appealing that's wonderful.

BOTTOM LINE: "Mojave Moon" is mildly entertaining as a bizarre black comedy/thriller. I had a few good laughs, but it struck me as curious more than anything else, with characters who don't ring true and do unbelievable things. Take, for instance, the gas station attendant who foolishly engages in a gunfight right out in the open or the ensuing gunfight where no one hits anyone even though they're all fairly close. The film's full of these "yeah, right" moments. Still, it's not bad. It tries to be different.

The film runs 95 minutes and was shot in Palmdale, CA.

GRADE: C+

A little off-the-wall, but not way off.

[Hermit C-2 · 7/10 · 24 August 1999]

Many times movies that are determined to be off-the-wall wind up going splat! but this one works OK. Danny Aiello plays an ordinary Joe hanging out with his friends at a coffee shop when in walks a sexy young woman (Angelina Jolie) who may as well have a blinking neon sign around her neck saying TROUBLE! The boys put Danny up to flirting with her and amazingly, she responds. Obviously she wants something from this guy and that something is a ride to her home, a trailer out in the desert.

When they get there, things start to get weird. Mom (Anne Archer) is a breathy-voiced version of a 50's sitcom mother, and there's this incongruous, menacing biker (Michael Biehn) at the trailer with her. Who is this guy, a boyfriend? Houseguest? Husband? If he knows what's good for him, Danny should say goodbye and step on the gas, but he hangs around too long and gets involved with all sorts of madness and freaky characters.

Some people will reject this film out of hand as being too stupid or weird and others will say it doesn't go far enough. A group in the middle will find it nicely out of the ordinary and modestly entertaining. Aiello is rather subdued as befits a befuddled guy who's into something way over his head and Jolie is verrry sexy.

Decent first half, the rest is, well.......

[manch44 · 3/10 · 4 February 2012]

Even though I gave it only 3 stars, I still liked this movie. Aiello, Archer and Jolie are all very good actors and they mesh pretty well in this. Biehn and Molina are caricatures and I wonder why. Well, no I don't. I blame the director. What could have been a very thoughtful film turns into a lame, sophomoric second half. Too bad; Biehn and Molina are competent actors but the cartoonish stuff blows. Oh well, Aiello and Asher are always good, Jolie is so attractive and sexy that were she more so the screen would explode. This could have been a much better film. However, the movie is photographed beautifully. I just checked the credits and it appears the director does nothing but TV series. This film should have gone to someone like Bogdanovich or even DePalma. Oh well.

A much better film than I expected

[hkdailo · 7/10 · 3 May 2009]

Not the best movie ever made, and it probably won't overwhelm you with its powerful storyline. But take it for what it is, a quirky, off-the-wall caper/romance/black comedy hybrid, and chances are you'll be quite pleasantly surprised. The protagonists are likable, the villains are cartoonish, and in the end the solid acting all around (I never realized what a good actor Danny Aiello can be) made this little low-budget noir almost believable, or at least endearing. And yes, the scenes with Angelina Jolie are on their own worth the price of admission - watch her electrifies the screen with every flick of a emerald-nail-polished finger and every mocking little grin. And you say to yourself, Man this girl is going to be a STAR...

Incidentally I think this is probably her best work before 1997's George Wallace, for which she won a Golden Globe. It's also probably the source of her fascination with Barstow...

A truly awful movie!

[eunice-4 · 1/10 · 29 June 1999]

The minute that apparently nice respectable Al sees that trashy trailer park, and Ellie's mom, who is a cross between Marabelle Morgan and the Stepford wives, he should have run for his life, but being a dim bulb he sticks around. These people are just pathetic! What on earth is Anne Archer doing in this film? Putting her children through college or saving up for her retirement? I can't believe that this is supposed to be a comedy. Checking the washing and doing the dishes was more interesting. Don't even bother watching a free copy of this film. It is boring.

A wacky movie set in Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert.

[marjorieagoston · 6/10 · 1 August 2006]

This is not at all the sort of film I am usually attracted to. The only other film in my experience that I could compare it to would be Tarentino's "Pulp Fiction". It's not as slick, but there is less blood... It was only on the second viewing that I was able to start to appreciate it and not until the shootout at the petrol station that I saw that the film is in fact a comedy on the black side. I think this should have been made apparent earlier in the film to give it a more uniform identity. The desert atmosphere is always attractive and explains the film's rather surrealistic feel.

For me the film is original and entertaining and the performances are excellent.

Angela Jollie Before She Was Famous

[FloatingOpera7 · 4/10 · 9 February 2005]

This movie is not that good. I watched it late at night on TV and it is a movie that definitely belongs on late night when mostly bad movies, obscure films are presented. It is one of those slow-paced movies that suffer of poor writing and a bad script. The Mojave desert is the setting and the premise is quite simple- a 50 yr old divorced man meets a sexy young woman (Angelina Jollie) who asks him to take her to her home in the desert. There he meets the girl's mother who is internally struggling with a bad marriage to a nasty man. The weird, Stepford Wife like mom is played quite over-the-top. The poor victim is lured into covering up a murder and it goes from there. The movie was really really bad, with cheesy dialog. It was made in 1996 and at this time Angelina Jollie was not quite yet a star. She would start to be noticed in Girl Interrupted and most famously in "Tomb Raider" followed by Beyond Borders and several other films. Angelina Jollie would also become famous for her changing lifestyle- from rebellious wild child to a humanitarian woman who worked in refugee camps and adopted an Asian boy and is thinking of adopting more children in the vein of Mia Farrow. This movie is only nice to watch for fans of Angelina Jollie who plays a close parody of her own personality at the time before she 'settled down". This is still a bad movie that could use some gloss and polish.

Much better and funnier than I expected

[bellino-angelo2014 · 8/10 · 16 November 2022]

Considering that the overall score of MOJAVE MOON is a discouraging 5,1 and stars a then-unknown Angelina Jolie and various C-list actors, I assumed it would have been a terrible movie. To my surprise, the movie had a great plot and was a lot of fun, tho I assume that it might not be for all people as it's also strange.

Al McCord (Danny Aiello) is having lunch at his favourite restaurant when a sexy young woman named Ellie (Jolie) walks by and entices Al. They exchange a few words and Ellie asks for a ride from the city to the Mojave desert where her mother Julie (Anne Archer) lives. Al accepts and when he meets Julie he seems to rediscover love again despite the presence of Julie's jealous boyfriend Boyd (Michael Biehn), who goes berserk even for nothing. In the desert Al has a flat tire and founds an apparently dead body that reveals to be Ellie's boyfriend Kaiser.

Once in the gas station there is a robbery but the chaos created by the gun happy tire repairman (Peter McNicol) allows Al to escape uninjured. When Boyd takes Ellie and Julie hostage after they went to Al's home, Al and his friend actor Sal (Alfred Molina) mount a rescue mission and Boyd will plummet to his death, and after that Ellie returns with Kaiser and Al starts a new life with Julie.

The film is strange from start to finish, and it's sure the director tried very hard to make it weird and strange. The locations including the Mojave desert, the characters and the music had a certain weird feeling, and it grew on me even after it was over. As for the cast, despite a then-unknown and various lesser actors, it did just fine and the film worked also for the script. My favourite part was when Al goes to the gas station and when some robbers come, Peter McNicol took his guns and became crazy... who would have ever expected it?

Still, it's great fun but not a movie for younger viewers because of the violence and gratuitous nudity (few brief scenes).

A cast of excellent actors working with a ludicrous script

[smatysia · 6/10 · 20 January 2021]

I knew nothing about this film going in. For the first third, it seems to be a regular, if predictable drama/thriller. Then it morphs into a completely unpredictable black comedy. I thought "what the hell?" but stuck with it. I ended up liking it, but you have to be able to swallow some ridiculous scenes and characters. I felt like it had a cast of excellent actors working with a ludicrous script.

Just plain odd

[NateWatchesCoolMovies · 5/10 · 10 June 2017]

Before Angelina Jolie blew up front and centre, she got her start in some wild and wacky b movies and genre stuff, the weirdest of which has to be Mojave Moon. It's one of those low rent flicks where not much of anything happens, the characters meander in and out of a non-story and almost everyone is completely nuts. 'B movie dramedy' I suppose would be the specific sub-genre. The 'story', as it were, follows drifter Al (Danny Aiello), who meets pretty young Ellie (Jolie) in a diner and hitches a ride out to the desert for seemingly no reason at all. As Ellie takes a shine to him, he begins to fall for her mother (Anne Archer). Only problem is, her mom has a boyfriend played by Michael Biehn who is quite possibly one of the weirdest characters I've ever seen in a film. Volatile, berserkly unstable and constantly in near hysteria mode, it's an odd performance that off-sets the quirky tone straight into the twilight zone. That seems to be the idea here though, the dreamy desert climate having a strange effect on these folks, causing all kinds of outrageous behaviour and scenarios. The town offers a rogue's gallery of characters including Michael Berryman, Alfred Molina, Jack Noseworthy, Peter Macnicol, John Getz, Michael Massee and others, all of whom don't really do much other than show up, act weird for a bit and then wander off again. I like this type of film though, purposeless other than to languish about with characters who don't want much, their arcs sputtering in a flatline of small town doldrums and behaviour that only makes sense to them. It's not for everyone, which is why no one really gives credit to this stuff, but it's enjoyable once in a while, when you're in as strange a mood as the residents of this one horse sideshow of a town.

Flattens Due to Confusion of What it Wants to Be

[Nick_Dets · 27 July 2003]

"Mojave Moon" is a film fueled on the magic of a full moonlit night. It has a distinct, memorable and charming presence. I love this very feel of the film, but unfortunately it wares off as the movie tries to reinvent itself at the end. It shifts into a different mood, from a sweet romance into a wacky, cartoonish comedy.

Danny Aiello is a genuine actor, and his best work is in his little indie films like this. He plays a used carsalesman named Al, who is lost in a routine life. One day a beautiful free spirit (Angelina Jolie) serves as an outlet as he follows her into the Mojave Desert for a mysterious adventure.

The premise is almost identical to "Box of Moon Light", a far better film. Both films are about a person serving as a way out of the deadly foe of time. If only "Mojave Moon" centered itself more on the wonderful magic of the journey and the life-changing outcomes like "BOM", instead of becoming untrue to itself. (Ironically both main characters are named Al).

super low budget no-script romantic(?) drama (?) movie

[paradikastikos · 1/10 · 11 January 2011]

it came along a Greek newspaper (as a gift) and obviously the selection wasn't random! the newspaper must have bought the dvds for free! there is no plot, the acting is dreadful (i think most of the time the actors were acting on their own in order to fill the 80' minutes because there was no script). i kept watching it just to see if it can get any worse! overall super low budget no-script romantic(?) drama (?) movie, only the writer and the director can explain what they tried to make...

anyway, the story was about an old unmarried guy wandering around the town and looking hungry for women. then he saw the young angelina jolie and became even more hungry. then he saw angelina's old mother and compromised with the mother (who was living in a caravan and had an insane boyfriend and she was searching for some guy to replace the insane boyfriend, so she picked the unmarried old hungry for women wanderer who's saliva was dribbling for her daughter). that's it. he replaced the insane boyfriend and moved to the caravan. the end...

It was OK.

[big20 · 7/10 · 18 November 1998]

I think the film was o.k. and I liked the soundtrack but the film was a little cheesy and sometimes didn't make a whole lot of sense. I have seen the movie 4 times and it does continue to make me smile because of the wonderfully beautiful and talented actress Angelina Jolie, the only reason I watched the movie. It's about this older guy who moves to L.A. and meets this young beautiful girl. He drives her home to the Mojave desert, falls asleep with her mother, and wakes up to find a dead guy in his trunk. There wasn't enough emotion in the movie, like the girl (Ellie) never really cared that it was her boyfriend in the trunk, and her mother didn't care that it was her own boyfriend that put him there. Anyway if you like Angelina Jolie it's definitely worth a look..

What Happened?

[carriepookie · 3/10 · 25 January 2003]

What possessed talented actors/actresses to star in this terrible piece of junk. All actors are top notch. I bought it only for Angelina Jolie. After seeing it, I don't even want to loan it to the public library...I'd feel to guilty to subject someone to this. Even if you love Angelina Jolie as I do, this is NOT worth renting. Unless you like her so much you want every movie she made...she does look really cute in it.

Probs the most mid movie I've seen but with a good twist.

[joeredford · 6/10 · 4 May 2023]

Acting is very mid with Michael Biehn and Alfred Molina carrying this movie with the best acting scenes always coming from them.

The plot is very mid too with no drive or passion and sometimes really doesn't make much sense.

The scenery and camera work is very mid too with no real presence or feeling which adds nothing to the already basic plot.

There is however one twist in this movie that did stand out to be the best moment in the plot. I won't spoil it but it was a very nice idea and was executed.

I'd say a 6/10 for this movie is a fair review and without good acting scenes from Biehn and Molina this movie could be 4/10.

This movie is horrible, bad, terrible, junk.

[jinnadaoc · 1/10 · 27 October 2013]

Im not really sure how this stuff gets written and made into movies. None of the situations are at all realistic (cars not starting and then starting without any explanation etc), none of the characters make any sense. None of the choices they make has any sense behind them (they seem to be governed by internal magic 8-balls), none of the consequences make any sense (characters getting locked in a shed that Hellen Keller and Stephen Hawking could escape from). At every turn there is a completely unrealistic coincidence of some sort (characters just randomly finding each other in LA, one of the largest cities in the world), that of course makes no sense.

The acting is as horrible as the writing. Was Anne Archer trying to channel a stoned Marylyn Monroe? Jolie looked like she would rather be kissing freshly dug up corpses than interacting with anybody in the movie. BTW, she is not attractive at all...she looks like a stick figure somebody tried to inflate with a tire pump but only got to her lips and boobs (her boobs BTW are the only thing that makes this movie at all interesting, but just barely so), her ass looks like it hasn't graduated Jr High yet and her frame looks like it is carrying about 5 lbs of muscle.

Horrible horrible movie.

Sweet, but pretty tame and forgettable.

[dave13-1 · 6/10 · 12 April 2012]

Angelina Jolie completists may feel compelled to sample this minor item from her early portfolio, and it certainly beats Cyborg 2, but if it had starred anybody else it would be of little interest to audiences even just a month after it came out. Danny Aiello plays a fiftyish bachelor who, despite being a little thin on top and a little thick in the middle, is confident of his ability to attract young women. Jolie catches his eye in a coffee shop and calls him over, essentially to put his boasts to the test by having him charm her in front of his friends. The resulting awkwardness is more excruciating than funny and this is part of the problem with this movie: the funny bits mostly are not, and so then what are you left with? Jolie, as she was in many of her early roles, is quirky and winsome here, and Aiello has enough screen presence to anchor the movie, but the script gives them little to do that's genuinely interesting. The film is quite well shot with nice cityscapes around Los Angeles and gorgeous desert scenery once the pair gets on the road, but ultimately there is little here that entertains beyond the charm of the principals. I rather liked this movie, but ten minutes after it was over, I would have been hard pressed to provide specific details on what happened. Driving. There is a LOT of driving. And Jolie takes a shower in a way that is clearly intended to tease Aiello and keep him on the hook. But hey, we know she can be sexy; she became a superstar based on that talent fer cryin' out loud.

Ultimately, it's neither a plot nor a character driven film. It's a mood piece and the mood is sweet, but tame and forgettable. It's okay, but approach with caution.

Passable with turn-offs

[je-remy · 5/10 · 2 February 2015]

Its full of clichés and full of parody but the plot is not predictable... which makes this a passable, meandering, not-quite-sure-what-next film. There's some amusement here, but not enough.

The two turn-offs:

1. Jolie and her allure are a big part of the movie... but she is mismatched with Aiello. A much older guy or gal is fine, so long as they still match in attractiveness. Aiello isn't handsome enough for there to be any plausibility with Jolie. The promiscuous kissing, particularly between those two, gets a yuk from me.

2. The shootout scene where nobody can hit anybody and the garage guy doesn't have to take cover... is too extreme a parody in the context of the film. Taken to that extent of silliness in a movie like "Airplane", it might work. In this one it just knocked me out of the film... with mutterings or ridiculous... destroyed any suspension of disbelief... and had me deciding whether to find another DVD. I did persist - and had just about forgotten it by the end - but without that scene, the movie might climb a whole star.

A hidden gem.

[urbanmagic · 10/10 · 7 October 2005]

Great comic performances throughout, although Peter MacNicol, in a cameo role, steals the show! Early Angelina Jolie, looking stunningly beautiful, strikes the right balance of loopiness and reality. Anne Archer startles with an effervescent comic turn that will surprise her fans and delight the unfamiliar. Danny Aiello is the perfect everyman, at times innocently confident followed by sheer bafflement at the insane goings on around him. And Alfred Molina, is brilliant as Aiello's long suffering out-of-work actor sidekick who finds the perfect role in a real life drama. Independent film at its best. Don't miss it!

Weird but nice

[Angeneer · 6/10 · 11 June 2000]

The movie is strange but you come to like it. It has a Lynch atmosphere and it alternates between comedy and thriller (reminded me of Wild At Heart sometimes). This is the first film Angelina Jolie film I've seen. She's gorgeous! If I were Aiello I would definitely fall for her. Michael Biehn is extremely cool!

Jolie shines in quirky comedy

[shantaar-2 · 7/10 · 18 February 2011]

I was kind of held back from this movie, not being big on Danny Aiello, but actually he's well cast here a s a good natured schlump who can't help but be smitten by the nubile charms of a very young and very good Angelina Jolie. Being a soft-hearted lug he gives her a ride deep into the Mojave desert, Big mistake! First he falls for her mom, sweetly played by Anne Archer, then realizes her boyfriend is a psycho! He tires to high tail it out of there only to find a dead body in his trunk! There's a shoot out at a gas station, a very funny "Rambo" spoof by Alfred Molina, and plenty of sweet moments sprinkled in as it all get sorted out.

I really enjoyed this film and it isn't the type I'm normally drawn too, but Angelina was delightful and it moved along really well to a satisfying conclusion. If you're looking for something off beat, this a good bet.