CONSPIRACY THEORY
There is no question about the acting abilities of Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts. Given that, it is unfortunate that the story jars with reality when we have to assume that Alice (Julia Roberts), an attorney in the Justice Department of New York City will find enough in common with Jerry (Mel Gibson), a taxi driver who is a crackpot on the question of conspiracies. It just does not seem believable Alice will see anything in Jerry that would make her fall in love with him.
Jerry, in his cab, keeps up a running babble with his passengers, ranting and raving and expounding about conspiracies while maneuvering through NYC traffic. There is nothing that happens in the world or in NYC that does not indicate conspiracy to Jerry. In short, he is a fanatic. Somebody out there is trying to get us.
Unlike the average fanatic, Jerry has some reason to feel as he does: he is subject to momentary quick visuals in his brain that are recollections but he cannot pin them down He does not know why but he is certain there are bad guys "out there" who would like to kill him. Although he has been tossed out of Alice's office eight times, he still returns to her with whatever information he has been able to put together at home. Alice is the only one who will, at least for a little bit, listen to him.
Alice has a reason for tolerating Jerry. Her past includes her father, a federal judge who was murdered under mysterious circumstances and she is not content with official explanations.
When Jerry is kidnaped by a strange government psychiatrist, Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart) who wants to probe Jerry's mind to find out what memories it still harbors, Jerry escapes and turns to Alice for more help.
Sadly, from this moviegoer's point of view, the story does not ring true. It appears to be a concocted tale and a not too exciting one at that. Despite Gibson's believable acting in the role of a confused fanatic and Roberts turning in some equally good acting, the movie goes not very far. Truth is, I could not picture Roberts as an attorney. I just could not.
Directed by Richard Donner
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Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
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