Costa-Gravas' film 'Mad City' tells the story of an idiot who decides to turn around his life by taking hostages; needless to say, it doesn't end well. The film is also a satire on the media, happy to watch bad things happening (or even to make bad things happen) as long as there's a story: now Donald Trump is President-elect, this point certainly bears re-telling. But regarding the set-up, there's an obvious reference point, the brilliant Sidney Lumet film 'Dog Day Afternoon', and sadly, that movie puts this one well into the shade. The characters in 'Mad City' are unfortunately one-dimensional and the film's cards are unambiguously on the table throughout. For all their A-list status, stars Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta fail to bring the uninspiring script to life.

I love Dustin Hoffman. He is an actor who will rarely sell you short (not pun intended) he is fantastic in everything I have seen him in, from 'Marathon Man' and 'Kramer V's Kramer' his Oscar winning turn in 'Rain Man' or 'Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium' and 'Tootsie'. He is always a delight to watch, and the fact that he teams up with A popular again (thanks to 'Pulp Fiction') John Travolta should have made this immediate viewing. But for some reason this movie escaped me.And the main reason is probably Travolta, I liked him growing up thanks to 'Grease', 'Saturday Night Fever' 'Stayin' Alive' and 'Look Who's Talking' but as I entered my teens I became bored of him, I thought his turn in 'Pulp Fiction' was over rated, and although I enjoyed 'Phenomenon' nothing else I'd seen him in convinced me otherwise. An out of favour reporter (Hoffman) is sent to a Museum to cover a "bit of fluff" story and finds himself in the middle of a great story when a sacked security guard (Travolta) takes some visiting children hostage. Of the supporting cast Robert Prosky was solid as Hoffman's boss, and Mia Krishner as his ambitious protégé Laurie is OK. Alan Alda is as wonderful as he always is as the egotistical anchorman. Hoffman is as reliable as you'd expect as the reporter who manipulates the situation up help revive his career. But Travolta is the star here, his likable, every man who is down on his luck has you rooting for him, despite the fact that he is holding children hostage at gunpoint. Given the talent on show I'm surprised this failed to find an audience.

Although they tend to criticize them and to find their weak spots... As there is tough competition and rivalry in (private) networks, persons with high ambition and need for fame and glory are eager to exploit any person and item for their own benefit. Mostly it is comical, but at times it takes serious or event tragic scope - when/if innocent people, victims or their families are involved. And in the era of online search engines, it is impossible to leave things behind and move on with their lives.The duo Dustin Hoffman - John Travolta is brilliant, at least 2 additional points from me because of them. Other actors are good as well. As for Costa-Cavras, he has directed better stuff: there are twists and turns, but tension is sometimes falling, and those almost two hours are too much for this story. The ending is predictable as well.Nevertheless, Mad City is deserves more attention and bigger ratings than it has achieved. It is no family entertainment, however.

Mad City is one of those movies you see in the theater, possibly when you were younger and can remember seeing rated R movies as something of a kind of big deal, and then re-watch it on TV almost as a way to relive the experience as much as enjoy the movie. Then, as one gets older, re-watching the movie isn't quite the same if it isn't, well, very good. And yet even as Mad City isn't something I'd say to a friend "watch this right away, it'll change your life" (that, of course, from Costa-Gravas, would be Z), it's definitely a good view for something on a lazy day or night, or for a minor Dustin Hoffman or (yes) John Travolta craving. It does happen from time to time.The two stars are in very fine shape here- as far as the script can let them be- as a clear-headed but desperate reporter and a security guard with a heap of bad trouble respectively, who are put into an unintentional hostage situation after Travolta's recently fired museum security guard accidentally shoots a fellow guard and has to hold up a bunch of kids who are in the museum (plus Hoffman, in the bathroom after a boring interview while this happens), and then it turns into a media blitz. When these two actors interact the way they do, or even go through their somewhat predictable motions, it works at the least because we get to see Hoffman and Travolta as characters they've worked out and almost perfected in their own way. We believe them in this situation, and that should be enough to make it at least compelling viewing....Except, unfortunately, for a preachy screenplay, which half the time is simplistic tabloid entertainment and the other half dogmatic about the nature of the media. Costa-Gravas tries for moments that go for the satirical (one of my favorite bits is when we see the shot security guard recovering in his hospital room, waking up the first time to see a giant camera crane rising outside of his window to get his reaction to seeing a giant camera crane from a news group). It's definitely 20 years too late: Network got their first, quicker, brighter, funnier, and even with some better action. Perhaps there would have been more possibilities if the movie had been made today, when cable news is even more saturated with BS filler, one analysis to the next taking up time from actual other news that could be reported.But, for complaints that can be had with Mad City, and there are more than a few, it's surely watchable Hollywood stuff, and this is thanks to the direction (I really liked the tension when Travolta is telling the kids the Indian ghost story in front of the display in the museum), and a nice roster of supporting/character actors. If you've never seen a Dustin Hoffman or John Travolta movie before, by all means look elsewhere. But if you got nothing better to do, it isn't bad.