Mad City

This just in! The media distorts the truth for its own nefarious purposes! Mad City focuses on Max Brackett (Dustin Hoffman), a reporter who "crosses the line" between reporting the news and fabricating it when he turns a hostage crisis involving a fired janitor (John Travolta) into a media circus. Unfortunately, this preachy film also crosses a line--the one that separates commentary from polemic. Despite fine performances from Hoffman and Travolta, it suffers from a fatal heavy-handedness.