Whether this was some mainstream thinking writer's attempt to discredit the fringe press where real life conspiracy theories are born from (and mostly stand up to scrutiny) or not, it does an effective job of rubbishing the whole alternative thinking movement.

It does so by tarring Jerry (Gibson) with the conspiracy brush and making him such an extreme nutter as to infer by association that anyone who believes things are not as they seem in society is a paranoid delusional maniac.

It further ridicules alternative thought by making Jerry the victim of an actual conspiracy (the 'gasp, shock horror') of the story - having been taken prisoner years before and tortured for some shadowy government purpose under the cruel auspices of a barely remembered doctor (Stewart).

The actual conspiracy was as hackneyed as any government cover up is in a mainstream movie (never coming too close to the truth but pinning the un-American activities on some rogue agency or operator), and Jerry finds himself embroiled in it for real, dragging the woman he's been romantically obsessed with for years (Roberts) into it as well.

Nothing was particularly memorable aside from the general dumping of the movement by making its proponents appear as ridiculous and paranoid as possible.