Mad City

Twenty years ago, a film like Costa-Gavras' Mad City would have been a provocative and disturbing exploration of how television news can exploit a story to feed our blood-lust. In fact, it was...a film called Network. Mad City arrives in a different era. The notion that television news isn't just about the news...well, it just isn't news. The story of a reporter (Dustin Hoffman) who begins manipulating a hostage situation involving a laid-off museum security guard (John Travolta) never manages to arouse much more than nods of recognition, because the images and situations are familiar to the point of cliche: the self-important anchorman, the selective editing of a story to fit a pre-determined agenda, the absurdity of a growing media feeding frenzy. Credit John Travolta with taking an ethics lesson and giving it a human face; he plays simple with disarming effectiveness, his every expression conveying a man overwhelmed by circumstances. Like most "message" films, however, Mad City wilts every time it underlines its message. Network was prescient: telling the story of media gone mad, and anticipating viewers who would come to find the madness tolerable; Mad City, on the other hand, is yesterday's news. Optional. (S. Renshaw)