Conspiracy Theory (1997) - IMDb
imdb.com
The 1997 thriller Conspiracy Theory puts a paranoid cab driver at the center of a classic tension: when does pattern-seeking cross from rational skepticism into delusional thinking?
ApopheniaParanoia and Pattern RecognitionEpistemology of BeliefProportionality of Evidence
Theory Briefing
- Mel Gibson plays a conspiracy-obsessed cabbie whose wild theories accidentally turn out to be true, blurring the line between paranoia and insight.
- The film dramatizes apophenia — the psychological tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise — and asks when it becomes dangerous.
- Jodie Foster's Justice Department character anchors the story, representing institutional skepticism pitted against one man's runaway pattern-recognition.