MAD CITY
RATING: ** (out of ****)
Warner Bros. / 1:52 / 1997 / PG-13 (language, muted violence) Cast: Dustin Hoffman; John Travolta; Alan Alda; Mia Kirshner; Blythe Danner; Ted Levine; Robert Prosky Director: Costa-Gavras Screenplay: Tom Matthews
When it comes to depicting the effects of mass media, "Mad City" sure isn't pretty. This dull dramatic satire is notable for bagging a pair of solid actors -- Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta -- for its leads, but shortchanges itself by servicing them with a script about as stable as a mouthful of Pop Rocks with a carbonated chaser. As a result, "Mad City" is watchable, but never quite as involving or compelling as it strains to be.
Hoffman plays Max Brackett, an investigative journalist regulated to small town-reporting in California after a live TV outburst sets him back with his superiors. Along with tagalong intern Laurie ("The Crow: City of Angels"' wooden Mia Kirshner), he is assigned to visit the Museum of Natural History and get a brief interview with its owner (Blythe Danner, eventually relegated to pacing the background but otherwise good). Afterwards, while Max is using a urinal -- still wired (thank goodness for plot coincidence!) -- and Laurie is waiting outside, fired security guard Sam Baily (Travolta) shows up with a bag of TNT and a gun, hoping to talk some sense into his former employer.
Sam's timing is awful -- there's a group of wily schoolkids touring the exhibits -- and the stakes are raised when an accidentally-discharged bullet hits someone outside the museum's now-locked interior. But Max, secretly on the phone with his television station and reporting in voice-over, sees the potentially dangerous situation as both an enormous ratings-grabber and a chance for him to reclaim former career glory. Once discovered by an increasingly-weary and confused Sam -- and angered police, parents and citizens have surrounded the building -- Max manipulates him into a standoff with the authorities and arranges for live TV coverage as it ensues.
Crafting solid characters seems to be a problem for first-time screenwriter Tom Matthews, as neither of these two leads have what it takes to keep us interested. Sam Baily would have hit home harder had Matthews taken some time to fully develop the guy. It's hinted at, but never explained, that Sam has a darker side than we are made privy to (there might have been a just reason for his dismissal), so, basically, he has been sanitized in order to make him tragic -- what we see and what we (briefly) hear contradict each other.
Moreover, Sam's such a likeable cad that we know he's never going to snap and harm any of his prisoners; doing this keeps director Costa-Gavras from any child-in-jeopardy exploitation, but it also results in a huge lack of tension -- this has got to be one of the most laid-back hostage situations ever. Max Brackett, on the other hand, starts off interesting as the movie sets him up with numerous reprehensible traits. It becomes all too clear too fast, however, that they're only established so he can have a change of heart by the movie's end. From then on, everything plays out as expected, right down to a too-fake Larry King interview with Sam and Max and a totally contrived final scene that's supposed to illustrate (I think) how the media can swallow the soul of even the most innocent people.
At least "Mad City" sports a nice technical feel, a handful of good scenes (there's one where a network affiliate suggests that Max get Sam to surrender on Thursday night -- a time when ratings are weak) and Alan Alda chewing the scenery as an odious field veteran. And of course it's an appropriate showcase for two strong performances from Hoffman and Travolta. Ironically, both actors have covered similar territories in previous vehicles -- the former starred in the news spoof "Hero" and the latter played a laid-off simpleton in "White Man's Burden." "Mad City" isn't as bad as either of those tankers, but considering the talent involved and the film's satirical potential (think "To Die For"), it's soft news that really could have been hard-hitting.
© 1997 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit the Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
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