s+I
L.A. criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller signs on to defend slick, suave playboy real estate agent Louis Roulet. Roulet has been charged with assault, and his overbearing mother will do anything to clear the son's name. Cost is no issue - Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. Digging into the case, Mickey and P.I. Raul Levin reveal a blacker picture of Roulet's personality and evidence of a sinister past. Another sudden death and new links to a notorious double-homicide, make Mickey question if he's finally in over his head. His pursuit becomes a question of morality and a even a question of his own mortality.
The lawyer has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn't recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. What he should have been on the watch for was evil, evil as pure as a flame.
The setting here is the lawyers mobile "office" (back seat of a Lincoln towncar) involving actual events and locations in L.A. This story emerged and grew after author Connelly once met a real-life "back seat" lawyer.
The lawyer has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn't recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. What he should have been on the watch for was evil, evil as pure as a flame.
The setting here is the lawyers mobile "office" (back seat of a Lincoln towncar) involving actual events and locations in L.A. This story emerged and grew after author Connelly once met a real-life "back seat" lawyer.
t's been a long time since it seemed like Matthew McConaughey actually seemed interested in being an actor as opposed to a lanky shirtless grin for producers to hang a blond actress off of. With his new legal drama, he still doesn't evince much interest in thespian pursuits - a few wry wrinkles of that taut brow and some sly, bourbon-dipped line readings due the trick, as per usual - but fortunately, some of the people sharing the screen with him do. With William H. Macy, John Leguizamo, and Bryan Cranston cutting in from the sidelines, the film is occasionally rescued from its overly-busy legal shenanigans, but the person best suited to do the job, its star, is more often than not missing in action.
McConaughey plays a role that should fit him as well as the sharp suits his character prefers. Mick Haller is a courthouse haunt of a lawyer, darting from one appointment to the next in his gleaming, classic Lincoln, a capable-looking ex-con at the wheel and a passel of criminals trying to get his card. He's a would-be lovable heel of the kind that has been all over television for some time, the shamelessly manipulative litigator who knows which palms to grease and how to smartly bleed a client of cash. Between his prosecutor ex-wife (a game Marisa Tomei), investigator buddy (Macy, surfer-cool underneath an awesomely shaggy mop),
Before Haller busts out into his best impression of Billy Flynn from Chicago, though, the story spins him into a case that initially seems like a windfall but turns into a potentially career-ending bummer. After spinning his slickest magic, Haller is asked to represent an indignant rich kid, Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), accused of beating and raping a prostitute. Haller sees a glorious pay day and possibly even that rarest of things: a truly innocent client.
As anybody who's seen a third of an episode of Columbo knows, however, always look twice at the rich client. Just look at the scene where Haller comes riding up on Roulet while the kid is swatting golf balls on a course whose lush and extensive greens set against the cerulean Pacific blue might as well be a billboard reading The Arrogance of Wealth.
Director Brad Furman keeps all the elements in John Romano's busy-bee adaptation of Michael Connelly's novel humming along decently well for a time. But the film has trouble keeping up with the knotty intricacies of Haller's legal strategies, which involve him darting between multiple clients with different agendas, and frequently keeping counsel only with himself. While Furman's decision to shoot the film with a minimum of gloss and an eye for appropriately down-market settings is appreciated, he's not always able to keep his eye on the plot, which frequently gets away from him.
A primary issue is McConaughey himself. Although his slickster appeal gets the film through its lighter, jazzier moments, where he is just grooving on the cool of being the canniest operator in the room, when developments turn for the dark, he is utterly out of his depth. Furman isn't sure what to do in these scenes and opts for shooting McConaughey close-up and sweaty with jittery flash-cuts as he sucks down the cliched tumbler of whiskey. The supporting cast does what they can with mostly underwritten parts, but it's mostly a thankless task (particularly for McConaughey near-lookalike Josh Lucas, playing the green prosecutor going after Roulet). This is a film that occasionally approaches the gritty, profane, and darkly wise legal thriller that it wants to be, but never quite knows how to get there.
McConaughey plays a role that should fit him as well as the sharp suits his character prefers. Mick Haller is a courthouse haunt of a lawyer, darting from one appointment to the next in his gleaming, classic Lincoln, a capable-looking ex-con at the wheel and a passel of criminals trying to get his card. He's a would-be lovable heel of the kind that has been all over television for some time, the shamelessly manipulative litigator who knows which palms to grease and how to smartly bleed a client of cash. Between his prosecutor ex-wife (a game Marisa Tomei), investigator buddy (Macy, surfer-cool underneath an awesomely shaggy mop),
Before Haller busts out into his best impression of Billy Flynn from Chicago, though, the story spins him into a case that initially seems like a windfall but turns into a potentially career-ending bummer. After spinning his slickest magic, Haller is asked to represent an indignant rich kid, Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), accused of beating and raping a prostitute. Haller sees a glorious pay day and possibly even that rarest of things: a truly innocent client.
As anybody who's seen a third of an episode of Columbo knows, however, always look twice at the rich client. Just look at the scene where Haller comes riding up on Roulet while the kid is swatting golf balls on a course whose lush and extensive greens set against the cerulean Pacific blue might as well be a billboard reading The Arrogance of Wealth.
Director Brad Furman keeps all the elements in John Romano's busy-bee adaptation of Michael Connelly's novel humming along decently well for a time. But the film has trouble keeping up with the knotty intricacies of Haller's legal strategies, which involve him darting between multiple clients with different agendas, and frequently keeping counsel only with himself. While Furman's decision to shoot the film with a minimum of gloss and an eye for appropriately down-market settings is appreciated, he's not always able to keep his eye on the plot, which frequently gets away from him.
A primary issue is McConaughey himself. Although his slickster appeal gets the film through its lighter, jazzier moments, where he is just grooving on the cool of being the canniest operator in the room, when developments turn for the dark, he is utterly out of his depth. Furman isn't sure what to do in these scenes and opts for shooting McConaughey close-up and sweaty with jittery flash-cuts as he sucks down the cliched tumbler of whiskey. The supporting cast does what they can with mostly underwritten parts, but it's mostly a thankless task (particularly for McConaughey near-lookalike Josh Lucas, playing the green prosecutor going after Roulet). This is a film that occasionally approaches the gritty, profane, and darkly wise legal thriller that it wants to be, but never quite knows how to get there.
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Courtesy:Filmcritic.com
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