We've seen "Conspiracy Theory" quite a few times over the years. It's a very funny movie, and Mel Gibson is at his best. He and Julia Roberts make a good team, and Patrick Stewart as the bad guy is terrific. I have a new consciousness about the state of mind of Gibson that I didn't possess when this came out in 1997. So it's bittersweet to watch him clown around. He's so good at it. And maybe because he turned out to be "off" himself. He's only 41 in this film, but you see the worry lines on his forehead, and his skin is aging fast, probably because of his manic energy and smoking and drinking. But he still has those eyes and that lost boy persona that made him honey to girl bees. Roberts is 29 in this film, so he seems a bit stale for her, but given the story line of her murdered father it fits that she would be attracted to a protector.
There are so many funny lines just tossed hither and yon that you can't catch them all, and your own laughing will cause you to have trouble hearing them, but what a hilarious script! And the whole time you're thinking: wait a minute, this could be true, as you listen. Gibson is the master of this chatter. And so many funny scenes, with the best being him tied to a wheelchair barreling down a staircase causing mayhem all the way to the bottom.
We lost a star when Gibson self-destructed. His mind was wired wrong, probably from his father, and yet for many years his talent shown bright despite his ideas, both as an actor and as a director. He's brilliant, but dangerous. Beautiful, but damaged. In the end, I felt sadness for the turn in his life, but that was after he made me laugh so hard I almost burst a blood vessel. Oh, Mel, we hardly knew you.
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