Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) is a New York City cab driver who lectures most of his passengers about various conspiracy theories that he holds to be gospel.  After work, he parked near an apartment building and spied on Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts) as she runs on her treadmill.  Next, he takes a pile of newspapers to his cramped apartment that has plentiful locks on the door, and even locks on the refrigerator.  He reviewed the papers and highlighted the important stories.  Soon, he types up his newsletter: Conspiracy Theory.  This issue proposes that someone is trying to assassinate the president via an earthquake during a visit to Turkey.  The space shuttle will trigger the earthquake from orbit.  Yes, of course.  He sent the newsletter - each one from a different mailbox - to his subscribers.  He has one more person to inform: Alice.

Alice Sutton is a lawyer with the Justice Department and has had regular visits from Jerry over the last six months.  Both she and most of the office staff view Jerry as a crackpot but she humors him.  He had saved her from a mugging, which was their first meeting.  He asked her to warn the president about the earthquake.  She is noncommittal.

Then Jerry is snatched from the street, taken to a secret location, and interrogated by Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart), who uses harsh methods.  He asks who else knows?  Knows what?  Jerry has no idea which of his theories might have been true.

Mel Gibson is terrific as a paranoid crackpot.  He freestyled much of his conspiracy talk in the taxi, which is some of the funniest bits.  When he warns a pair of nuns against the Vatican, you have to laugh.  This is a complicated character and an excellent job of bringing him to life.  Roberts is good in the role of Alice, but it isn't as interesting a character as Jerry.  Patrick Stewart is great at Dr. Jonas.  This was probably the first time I had seen Stewart play a villain.  He can be menacing and scary in his interrogation scenes with Gibson and then entirely sympathetic and sincere when talking to Roberts.

When released, conspiracy theories were viewed as ridiculous and silly.  That is no longer true today.  Because conspiracy theories were generally laughable and easily dismissed, it became common to accuse one's opponents of spouting conspiracy theories.  What is labeled a conspiracy theory has expanded so much that many have since been proven true.

Great popcorn fun.  Recommended.

RIP Patrick Stewart