In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

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-

Edward James Olmos plays a former cop who apparently had to retire or be fired after accidentally shooting a woman while aiming for the man holding a gun on that woman. He winds up in trouble with his former co-workers after following around a woman with multiple personalities (one of which is a stripper), eventually starting a romance with her. Later in the movie he meets a woman who looks like the first one but has an Irish accent. It was only after he meets the second woman, and they end up romancing as well, that the movie becomes more entertaining but very confusing. ** Spoiler alert **: It turns out nearly everything in the movie has a connection to a complicated murder plot, and yet again former cop Olmos faces the situation of having to help a woman with a gun being held on her. Does he repeat his past mistake or find redemption?

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.