Thursday, April 7, 2011

The LINCOLN LAWYER

“The LINCOLN LAWYER” (Matthew McConaughey & Ryan Phillippe)

If I had one complaint about this film, it’s that it is TOO slick. The courtroom scenes should have been extended to make them more believable. Matthew McConaughey’s Mick Haller questions the prostitute that filed the suit against Ryan Phillippe’s Louis Roulet and tricks her into perjuring herself for admitting that she had seen Roulet driving a car after testifying 3 questions earlier that she had never seen him in a car... Sometimes the bitches just deserve it.
True, the courtroom scenes weren’t the meat of this story, so I wouldn’t expect it to have the impact of ‘A Few Good Men’, but I would liken this film to “And Justice For All...” without the humor. ‘Lincoln’ does have some excellent actors which seemed to have made the second-raters ‘up’ their game... I won’t pick on the star because he actually does a nice job here, but it’s performances from the always reliable William H. Macey and a brief but powerful appearance from Michael Pena that help to lift this film to higher than expected expectations.
As lawyer Haller, McConaughey dominates the film as the story is basically told through his eyes and it is clearly his best acting since ‘We Are Marshall’...
A divorced alcoholic that uses his Lincoln town car as his office, Mick is both portrayed as a crooked loser and a top notched high price win at all cost defense lawyer with the ability to dazzle even higher priced corporate attorneys.
After the film establishes Mick’s renegade style of practicing law, he is asked by a courthouse friend (John Leguizamo) to assist Louis Roulet, a wealthy young man who was arrested for beating up a prostitute. We’re never quite sure how much of Roulet‘s story Mick believes, but you do get the feeling he takes the case merely because he sees a huge payoff at the end of the rainbow (& doing a favor for a wealthy family could only lead to bigger and better paydays)
Wasted is Marisa Tomei as Maggie, Mick’s ex-wife and mother of his young daughter – the pair seems only to exist as fodder for the bad guys to threaten.
In fact both supporting female characters are lackluster as Frances Fisher plays Roulet’s mother as a carbon copy rich bitch that feels as though her ‘baby’ is above the law whether he’s guilty or not... Sometimes the bitches deserve it.
Bryan Cranston does well as the police detective out to nail Haller for his unethical practices & Josh Lucas plays Ted, the D.A. during Roulet’s trial with zero flair – it wasn’t until I thought back on the film that I realized that was exactly what his character needed to be – Haller was going to try & bring as much drama to the case as possible, so Ted wanted to be the laid-back voice of reason.
I also liked Laurence Mason as Haller’s chauffer, Earl – given the job of driving Mick’s ‘office’ until his license is ‘un-revoked’ following his latest DUI. Earl always seemed too cool for the room (or Lincoln in this case)
When a burly motorcycle gang surrounds the Lincoln, Earl calmly asks, "How do you want me to play this, boss?"
It is cleverly written, doesn’t stoop to bizarre revelations that make no sense and lays out a very logical and believable path as to how Haller turns the tables on his client without breaking the lawyer/client confidentiality pact.
‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ isn’t a classic, but it is a very good film – not too far fetched but with enough twists to maintain your interest throughout.

1 comment:

alan smithee said...

I liked it for many/all of the reasons articulated by Mr. Reid. Good popcorn movie.