Mad City
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: November 7, 1997 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
14
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
But Mr. Costa-Gavras, a galvanizing filmmaker working with a splendid cast, is able to tell this story in style. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Influenced by Billy Wilder's classic "Ace in the Hole," this dark comedy-drama rambles on too long and strains credibility at times. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverMichael Sragow
Actually, that shift in moral perspective is the freshest thing in the movie--it keeps the action absorbing even when the script keeps hammering us with lessons about the commercial exploitation of the news and TV audiences' craziness and gullibility. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Director Costa-Gavras packs a whole lotta hectoring into this high-strung morality play about the broadcast media's culpability in the escalation of human drama into camera-ready Greek tragedy. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Unfortunately, Mad City merely pumps up the volume on material that has already been picked clean. [07Nov1997 Pg 74]
60
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It has, at times, a loopy, edgy humor and moments of genuinely affecting pathos. But somehow the combination doesn't add up to anything. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
It's always at least a little disingenuous to attack the medium that's your bread and butter; this media-bashing movie tries to get around the problem by restricting its critique to television, specifically the news. Read full review
60
EmpireJake Hamilton
Yet in trying to be honest and non-conformist, Mad City does the most dishonest thing imaginable: it conforms to Hollywood routine. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Mad City might have been more fun if it had added that extra spin--if it had attacked the audience as well as the perpetrators. As it is, it's too predictable. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The absence of originality and inspiration isn't Mad City's only problem -- it also suffers from a shocking lack of subtlety. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Not for a minute is Mad City anything less than entertaining. Yet it becomes frustrating nonetheless. Its ideas gradually seem to be at cross-purposes -- not complex, not tantalizingly ambiguous, but tangled and undefined. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
And veteran director Costa-Gavras, whose early work ("Z", "State Of Siege", "Missing") proves that he's no stranger to sociopolitical complexities, might well have been the man to make it. But not from this script -- it starts off as puerile and then regresses. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
The great, and given Costa-Gavras' previous m.o., inevitable irony of Mad City is that even as it condemns the media for exploiting the situation, it's busy doing the very same. Read full review
50
VarietyEmanuel Levy
In actuality, however, what unfolds onscreen is a simplistic and obvious expose about the manipulative power of the news media that by now is so familiar that its cynical perspective is not likely to upset or provoke anyone. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
A blanket indictment like this has to be either satirically trenchant or a roundhouse punch to the gut. Tom Matthews' script takes a mushy middle ground, and the result seems less mad than just a bit addled or hacked off. [07Nov1997 Pg08.D]
40
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's a movie of great dynamism and energy, but very little discipline. It probes issues but it never really thinks about them. It seems smart, but it's dumb. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
As delivered by the politically inclined international filmmaker Costa-Gavras ("Z," "The Music Box"), Mad City's oversimplification of the ethical issues is bound to annoy those with any first-hand knowledge of the news dissemination process and disappoint others who've come for the promise of a city whipped into a "mad as hell" frenzy. Read full review
40
NewsweekJack Kroll
We've seen it all before and such familiarity kills impact. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Clearly, there's the germ of a good -- potentially even great -- movie here, but it's thoroughly smothered by a pair of lazy, self-congratulatory star turns by Hoffman and Travolta. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Hoffman and Travolta are both good, but this toothless satire does little to justify their performances. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Mad City is an example of how enervated polemical filmmaking can become when its plot loses contact with plausibility. Read full review
25
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
My question is, why has director Costa-Gavras taken it upon himself to dissect American cultural foibles when he has so clearly proven himself unequipped for the job? Read full review
10
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Mad City is for those who haven't seen enough movies about hostage situations. It's also for those who haven't seen enough ponderous movies about media exploitation, or Dustin Hoffman's ongoing reliance on muttery method acting. Read full review
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