Mad City (1997)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I like a film that makes me think. Technically, all films make me think, but bad films usually make me think about what time it is or whether I should get more popcorn or not. During Mad City I thought about the Marxian concepts of alienation and commodification, Max Weber's notion of the rationalization of society (zweckrational), and W.I. Thomas' statement "if you define a situation as real it becomes real in its consequences." (Okay, there were also a couple of spots where I did think about popcorn.)Mad City takes a critical look at definitional processes and the role that mass media plays in defining situations. Perhaps more importantly, Mad City raises insightful questions about commercial interests and the role that they play in definitional processes. By the end of the film, the viewer is painfully aware of what one writer has described as the irrationality of rationality.Mad City is directed by Costa Gavras who is known for political thrillers such as Z and Missing. The director's ideological bent still comes through but is here focused primarily on the mass media--although corporate practices and law enforcement agencies take a few hits along the way too. John Travolta plays a none-too-bright security guard who is laid off from his job at a museum. When he decides to confront his former boss, he takes a gun with him and the situation gets a bit out of hand. Dustin Hoffman plays a TV news reporter who has fallen from grace with the networks, and is sent to the museum to cover what he thinks will be a rather mundane story. When things quite accidentally spin out of control, the reporter and the laid-off guard are thrown together in a relationship that is at times mutually supportive, and at other times mutually exploitative.The primary weakness of the film is in the area of character development. At the center of the film is Dustin Hoffman's character. Hoffman gives an excellent performance, and the gradual transformation in his character reveals the primary theme of the film. Unfortunately, most of the other performers play caricatures instead of characters. Most of the people we meet here we have met before in Network, Broadcast News, Absence of Malice, or Up Close and Personal. I suspect this has more to with the writing of the parts than the directing or acting. The viewer who has not seen these other films may not notice this as much, but even then the characters are likely to come across as pretty one-dimensional.Visually, the film has some interesting moments as in the symbolic foreshadowing while the opening credits are still rolling (astute observers will identify the theme and perspective of the film by applying Chekhov's rule--that's Anton Chekhov, the Russian playwright, not Mr. Chekhov of Strar Trek Fame--"if there's a gun on the wall in act one, somebody has to have been shot by act three").With all its flaws, the theme of the story is timely, and the story reasonably well told. If you like a flick that is thought-provoking--as opposed to gut wrenching--Mad City might be worth a look. You may walk away as I did thinking (in the words of the cartoon character Pogo) "we have met the enemy, and he is us."

The problems when you've seen as many films as I have, is when you watch one which reminds you of a far superior version of it.Take Mad City. It's a social satire about the media's role in the death of a museum security guard (John Travolta). He just wants his job back after being fired, but is quickly turned into a love/hate figure by the TV and radio stations. What he thought was going to be a simple case of threatening his old boss with a gun to achieve his aims, quickly escalates into a hostage situation... As he unwittingly takes a party of children prisoner and the cameras and police cars end up parked outside. Because of the guy's lack of intelligence, he doesn't have a clue what he's doing, or how to get out of it.Fear ye not though, as a fallen reporter (Dustin Hoffman) happened to be in the museum bathroom at the time, and becomes part of the crisis. Seeing this as a chance to get back into the big leagues, he manipulates Travolta into maximising his own publicity... and this average Joe starts striking a chord with the American public everywhere when he start broadcasting his tales of woe. However, the audience's affections are notoriously fickle, and further revelations could jeopardise his newfound fame...You have vendors outside selling commemorative T-shirts, and the cops refusing to charge in until they see the latest opinion polls for this dude. Hence the title, Mad City. Even the sanest lose their head in such heated circumstances, and fanned by the flames of saturation coverage, EVERYONE has an opinion. But I seem to remember this type of story being done with a lot more authenticity and panache in Dog Day Afternoon. That movie explored issues which Mad City wouldn't even touch, and a much more credible set-up too.This one starts off well, but becomes more cartoon-like as it goes along. Travolta and Hoffman's partnership never really gels, and the latter's heel face-turn two thirds of the way through with little provocation seems implausible to say the least. It's a very basic, bare-bones version of a fascinating concept, and can only be recommended to those who couldn't deal with the complexities that are apparent in features of a similar ilk.One of which is apparently called Ace In The Hole. Guess what I'll be watching next... 5/10

The acting is marvelous. Every role is well-cast, and neither lead outshine their character(rather, they disappear nicely into the roles). It's engaging, and it comes across rather credible and psychologically accurate. The production is not flashy, nor does this feel "thrown together". Editing and cinematography are good. It's genuinely funny, here and there. The pacing is great, and this doesn't really lose your interest, as such. Heck, the children aren't even particularly irritating. So why do I give it that relatively low of a vote? Well, frankly, it seems to put forth all it really has to say within the first fifteen to twenty minutes, and after that, it simply keeps restating it, occasionally in a different way than earlier in the movie. The one message that this contains is that the press can and will blow things out of proportion, and manipulate facts as well as those who follow them in order to stay informed. As admirable as it is to make an effort to ensure that everyone is aware of that sad truth, don't we all already know that? If this would at least explore it, go into what has led to it, and what makes people go along with it, it would quite possibly make for excellent cinema. As it is, this honestly winds up being a one-sided attempt at convincing its audience that things are a certain way, no matter what else they might believe, which is, ironically, exactly like the type of news-reporting that it is trying to decry. While 15 Minutes wasn't a masterpiece, it at least had satire, and was more entertaining than this. There is some violence and brief language in this. I recommend this to the biggest fans of those who made it. 6/10

Albeit something of a spoiler, this film ends somewhat like "Soylent Green" in which the protagonist screams "Soylent Green is people!" to awaken and reveal a relevant truth; and so too does the character of Max Bracket, portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in an awesomely tragic and long crane shot declare: "WE KILLED HIM, WE KILLED SAM!" as a throng and horde of media and on-lookers engulf him. This film is a biting indictment of the media circus that we look upon as Network and Cable news, and it shows how one story, the story of a simple yet complex man can be manipulated to fit the needs of those manipulating the supposedly objective nature of the news. "Mad City" shows that there is no such thing as objective reporting, or even loyalty amongst reporters, and that integrity rests with the subjective individualists such as Max Bracket who seem to have the bottom line of a scoop in their best interest, but whose humanness and ethicality cause them to care and empathize with their subjects. "Mad City" therefore, should be compulsory viewing for all Mass Comm majors for it shows how egos can overpower what should be the real impetus behind the news: the pursuit of the truth, and not sensationalism.