Conspiracy Theory (1997)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Let's talk about sadness. Hey, IMDb, let's talk about a type of sadness that lingers that follows along that haunts in bitter eternity across your life. Or, I guess there is this movie, I could review it? Actors got phone calls, which lead to meetings. Those meetings resulted in lawyers receiving phone calls. Those lawyers had meetings and from those meetings it was deemed that this movie could be made. An insurance company gets their cut. Yes, at least one prostitute was paid on a production company credit card, it's cool. Also there is a soundtrack which can still be purchased. At this very moment, you could go on Amazon.com and find a copy of this movie or it's soundtrack. Sadness.

Jerry Fletcher is a man in love with a woman he saved from muggers a while ago and now watches her from afar, like a pseudo guardian angel. She works for the government, but Fletcher is an outspoken critic of the government. He has conspiracy theories for everything, from aliens to political assassinations. One of his theories finds itself to be accurate. But which one? Some dangerous people want him dead, and the only person he trusts is the woman he loves....The thing with this film is that Gibson is doing his usual kooky schtick that we all know and love from other Donner movies and the action comedies that made him such a big hit in Hollywood after Mad Max. But, kooky and mental health problems really don't mix, so you find yourself never really warming to his character, because even though he says he isn't, Jerry is a potential threat to Alice, because the man is unpredictable, so the film is pretty unsure of what kind of genre it falls into.The thought of Gibson and Roberts starring in a film together must have sounded like a license to print money in 1997, but it's easy to see why it didn't hit big at the box office. If Donner had gone a little darker, and made it a full on thriller, it would've done much better, because it has dark elements, but Jerry is portrayed as a lovable dolt who's misunderstood.Roberts is okay as Alice, and really comes into her own during the final act. Stewart plays Basil Exposition here, used only to explain story arcs and plot points to us via Roberts, but he plays a good spook.But the Donner sheen is there, and any film featuring the Gibson and the director is worth watching, I just wished the studio had gone for the dark route, done a straight up thriller and got rid of the tagged on happy ending.

We always try to look for explanations in the coincidences in our daily lives, trying to find meaning in our little world. But what if one of our crazy theories was right?Jerry Fletcher is a taxi driver who spends his days telling his insane conspiracy theories to his passengers. He sees patterns everywhere and one day finds himself being chased by some shady guys in suits. Apparently he got something right. Mel Gibson does a fine job showing the vulnerabilities of Jerry, and it's pretty fun seeing how he lives his life of paranoia and how much that costs him. No friends, the fear, etc.But the movie also follows Alice, Jerry's platonic love interest, and her determination to find out the truth about her father's murder. Julia Roberts does a great job playing someone who is suddenly thrown in the middle of a crazy man's theory.There are no huge action scenes with big explosions, Richard Donner is contained and try to focus on the tension, which is good. We have the mandatory chasing scenes in which the guy avoids the unrelenting pursuits of the powerful organizations by incredible plans. And we do have some thrills in the form of imminent danger, but the payoff is not worth it in some cases.The story plays with a few twists during the movie, which can be fine for suspense, but it distances the viewer from the characters at times. Who are we following? Who is the protagonist? Jerry or Alice? From time to time, it feels good to see a 90's movie, with its "regular people have to go against bad super powerful organizations" like 'Enemy of the State', 'Mercury Rising' or 'The Net'. Thinking about it now, there are a lot of movies with this plot. Despite the name that could define the genre, "Conspiracy Theory" is not the best one there is about the theme, but it does a fine job. It's a little too long, but hey, if you are in the mood for an older (yes 90's movies are old now... I am sad too) interesting movie, filled with phones that look like bricks, you can settle for this one. That is, if you have already seen 'Enemy of the State' first.

Conspiracy Theory is a fairly good movie, it's entertaining sure but it did tend to drag in parts for me and felt inconsistent as a whole. Mel Gibson's crazy performance waffles between brilliance and just plain over-the-top and I had a hard time believing any part of the romancy thing going on between him and Julia Roberts as he was just a little too certifiable for anyone to fall for. And while the whole conspiracy theory/Manchurian Candidate aspect was super interesting there were also sections explaining this storyline that just went on too long and ended up being really boring. Enjoyed Patrick Stewart as the bad guy 08.13