Plot Summary
New York City taxi driver Jerry Fletcher is a passionate conspiracy theorist, happily sharing his ideas with anyone who will listen. His favorite audience is Justice Department lawyer Alice Sutton, who tolerates him because he once saved her from a mugging but is unaware he spies on her at home. She is haunted by the murder of her father, a judge, which her boss Mr. Wilson believes was ordered by an inmate her father denied an appeal. One day, Jerry notices some men he surmises to be CIA agents, who lure him into a trap.
They bring him to a man who, claiming to know Jerry well, injects him with LSD and demands to know who he has been talking to “about us.” Experiencing terrifying hallucinations and flashbacks, Jerry manages to escape after biting the interrogator’s nose, but is injured when the wheelchair he is taped to falls down a flight of stairs and a metal rod pierces his abdomen. Accosting Alice in the Justice Department lobby, a frantic, bloodied Jerry grabs a security guard’s gun and is arrested. Taken to the hospital, Jerry is handcuffed to a bed and drugged. Before losing consciousness, he begs Alice to switch his chart with the criminal in the next bed, claiming he will be dead by morning otherwise.
When Alice returns the next day, the criminal has died from an alleged heart attack and the police, along with the FBI and the CIA, arrive to ID the body, believing it to be Jerry’s. The CIA is led by a psychiatrist named Dr. Jonas, whose nose is bandaged. Jerry fakes a heart attack and, with a reluctant Alice’s help, escapes again. Alice and FBI Agent Lowry examine Jerry’s belongings before the CIA confiscates them. She returns to her car to find Jerry hiding in the back seat. While driving, Jerry explains someone is likely following her.
Meet the Cast
Info & Stats
Director:
Richard Donner
Writer:
Brian Helgeland
Stars:
Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart
Categories:
Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Budget:
$75,000,000.00
Revenue:
$137,000,000.00
Age: R | Duration: 2h 15m
Watch the Trailer