Conspiracy Theory

Self-respecting conspiracy theorists will reject Richard Donner's Conspiracy Theory as a half-baked pastiche of fragmented ideas. Filmgoers, on the other hand, will accept it as just another implausible, derivative, overwrought, fitfully amusing, generally irritating summer movie. Cutting and pasting elements of Taxi Driver, The Manchurian Candidate, Marathon Man, and, yes, The Fifth Element, Conspiracy is less elegant theory than standard, graceless Hollywood practice.

A mugging Mel Gibson is Travis Bickle by way of David Helfgott as Jerry Fletcher, a New York City cabbie who entertains his fares by disclosing secrets about the Vatican, NASA, and the public-utilities department and by falling into the occasional psychotic episode. His favorite audience is Federal Justice Department attorney Alice Sutton (a dewy-eyed and dim Julia Roberts), who patiently hears out his wacky surmises. There's more to Fletcher than mere mania, however, for murky CIA operative Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart aspiring to the menace of Marathon's Laurence Olivier) tries to reel him in using such low-key subterfuges as dangling dozens of agents from helicopters at the height of downtown traffic. Jonas is too subtle for Alice, though, who refuses to take Jerry seriously even after "they" Desert Storm his apartment.

What makes conspiracy theories creepy and diverting is that, given a nudge or two of willing suspension of disbelief, they make sense. Not so with Conspiracy Theory. Although it's gratifying to watch Mel bite Stewart's nose off in a psychedelic torture scene, this is a Conspiracy without any plotting. At the Campus, Harbour Mall, Opera House, Showcase, Tri-Boro, Westerly, and Woonsocket cinemas.

-- Peter Keough