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Mad City
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Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critics What's this?

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  • Starring: Alan Alda, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta
  • Summary: A network television journalist is banished to a backwater station for bad behavior on the job. He meets a security guard who got laid off and the two form a bond of mutual need which changes the course of their lives forever. (Warner Bros.)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 23
  3. Negative: 4 out of 23
  1. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Elvis Mitchell
    80
    But Mr. Costa-Gavras, a galvanizing filmmaker working with a splendid cast, is able to tell this story in style.
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: Jake Hamilton
    60
    Yet in trying to be honest and non-conformist, Mad City does the most dishonest thing imaginable: it conforms to Hollywood routine.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    30
    Hoffman and Travolta are both good, but this toothless satire does little to justify their performances.

See all 23 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. MichaelL.
    8
    This is a very well realized and provacative film about the media's involvement in glorifying crime and criminals. Yes, we've heard this beef before, but rarely so articulately and balanced. The lines between good and bad, fair and unfair are masterfully blurred so the viewer is never quite sure whom to root for. I was moved, impressed, and challenged by this film, and applaud Costa Garvas, and his fine cast. Travolta is better than I've ever seen him, Hoffman is at his quirky best. Danner turns a cardboard character into a human being, and Alan Alda continues to do smarmy better than anyone! Ignore the critics--this is a first-rate film.… Expand
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