Mad City (1997)

37% of critics liked it
(27 reviews)
41% of users liked it
(9,213 ratings)

Investigative TV journalist Max Brackett (Dustin Hoffman) suffers setbacks and winds up filing routine reports from Madeline, California. Max and his eager intern Laurie (Mia Kirshner) are doing a story at the local Museum of Natural History when a bigger story erupts. The Museum's director, Mrs.… More Investigative TV journalist Max Brackett (Dustin Hoffman) suffers setbacks and winds up filing routine reports from Madeline, California. Max and his eager intern Laurie (Mia Kirshner) are doing a story at the local Museum of Natural History when a bigger story erupts. The Museum's director, Mrs. Banks (Blythe Danner), refuses to talk to former museum security guard Sam Baily (John Travolta) about his firing due to budget cuts. Angered, Sam shoots a shotgun, accidentally hitting another security guard. Realizing he's in the middle of breaking news, Max phones his supervisor (Robert Prosky) and goes to live coverage. A class of young children is visiting the Museum, and Sam holds them hostage. Sam's link to the outside world is the opportunistic Max, who manipulates the situation, telling Sam what to say on camera. Within hours, as the event escalates to national interest, vendors arrive to hawk products at the museum grounds, while the entire country tunes in the ongoing coverage. The screenplay by Eric Williams and Tom Matthews (former managing editor of Boxoffice) is a technological updating of the 1951 Billy Wilder classic Ace in the Hole (aka The Big Carnival) about a scheming journalist (Kirk Douglas) who delays the rescue of a man trapped by a rockfall in order to continue his newspaper reports. Acknowledging the Wilder film, the name "Brackett" is an obvious nod to Charles Brackett, Wilder's long-time collaborator. Filmed in Los Angeles and San Jose, where the San Jose Athletic Club served as the museum location site. Shown at the 1997 Denver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 54 min.
Directed By: Costa-Gavras
Written By: Tom Matthews
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Nov 7, 1997 Wide
On DVD: Nov 6, 2001
Studio: Warner Home Video

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, Variety
This simplistic and obvious expose about the manipulative power of the news media (lazily acted by Travoilta and Hoffman) is so familiar that it's not going to upset or provoke anyone.
Mike Clark, USA Today
A wanna-be event movie that merely reinvents the wheel.
Gary Brown, Houston Community Newspapers
Mad City is a waste of your time and money.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
...a film of mild pleasures and mild annoyances, alternately tired and clever yet ultimately dismissible.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
'The media are vultures' is the prevailing point here, and it is not expressed in the most original or interesting of ways.
Fred Topel, About.com
Compelling analysis of the modern media. Somewhat obvious, but still works.

Read all 6 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Film C

I quite liked this movie, dustin hoffman was brill and so was john travoltas acting. John travlta is a security guard who gets sacked but he wants it back so it turns into a hostage situation with dustin playing the reporter and in the heeart of it all. I think this is a brilliantly… More
I quite liked this movie, dustin hoffman was brill and so was john travoltas acting. John travlta is a security guard who gets sacked but he wants it back so it turns into a hostage situation with dustin playing the reporter and in the heeart of it all. I think this is a brilliantly acted surperb film with a heart wrenching ending and something to relate to as well its has some humour and you feel sorry for travoltas character ! well worth a watch !!
Ross C

A thought-provoking thriller that takes embedded journalism to a new level when a TV reporter (Hoffman) finds himself trapped in an accidental hostage situation. John Travolta plays to perfection the role of a simple, irate museum security guard who just wants his job back.… More
A thought-provoking thriller that takes embedded journalism to a new level when a TV reporter (Hoffman) finds himself trapped in an accidental hostage situation. John Travolta plays to perfection the role of a simple, irate museum security guard who just wants his job back. Costa-Gavras takes his scathing satire of media influence a bit too far, but as this was intended to be a mainstream movie he had to make the satire obvious. An interesting plot and enjoyable to watch even if it was a bit slow at times.
Ginny

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Candy R

Good movie. John's character holds schoolchildren hostage.
Joseph E

This movie is a tough call for the two lesding men! Maybe a little less acting, and more entertaining.
Erin C

Unexpected ending, but the movie was boring overall. I don't know if it was that the actors were wrong for this movie or if it was just a bad movie.