Mad City (1995)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Matt Leland	Chris O’Donnell
Casey Roberts	Drew Barrymore	½
Eric	Matthew Lillard	-
Duncan	Richard Chaim	-
Coach	Robert Nadir	-
Margaret Roberts	Joan Allen	-
Adam Leland	T. J. Lowther	½
Clifford Leland	Kevin Dunn	-
Salesman	Liev Schreiber	-

Review

The basis is quite good, but this film isn't able to live up to its own aspirations. It's a Gen X story of young love against all odds – against the norms and conventions that are forced upon two free, individualistic teenagers (Chris O'Donnell and Drew Barrymore). We're meant to root for them because they're hip and rebel against the authorities, accompanied by lots of cool music, but the film forgets to explain to us what makes their rebellion justified and relevant, except that they are young and beautiful. The director Antonia Bird fares fairly well as long as the focus is on the love story itself, but the parts of the film that are supposed to give it an edge don't hold up. Mad Love is not exactly a new The Graduate.