Brad Furman's crime thriller can comfortably be described as a yarn. While this is at feature length, this is the kind of detective story that fans of LAW & ORDER will like. What makes this a bit more theatrical and less procedural is the central character, played smarmy and charmingly in equal doses by Matthew McConaughey.
When he's not a soon to be tamed womanizing romantic lead, McConaughey is in a suit playing a lawyer. Here he is Mick Haller, a defender of all sorts of lowlifes. The counselor works out of his classic Lincoln and since getting a DUI has Earl (Laurence Mason, THE CROW) chauffeuring him around. Bondsman Val Valenzuela (John Leguizamo, MOULIN ROUGE!) usually forwards him the scum he represents, but he has a choice client for him this time. Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe, CRASH) comes from money and they have a family lawyer. So why would he want Haller to get him out of a battery charge for which he insistently claims he is innocent of?
Haller is street smart and knows he's being played somehow, but as they say — don't try to hustle a hustler. Helping him out with the case is his private eye Frank Levin (William H. Macy, FARGO), who has been drinking buddies with Haller for a long time. One of the reasons Haller is so successful is because he has friends everywhere. Like his ex-wife Maggie (Marisa Tomei, THE WRESTLER), who is a DA that can't understand how Haller can represent people he knows are guilty. Eddie Vogel (Trace Adkins, AN AMERICAN CAROL) is the lead of a biker gang that Haller seems to have on loan anytime he needs.
But not everyone is a fan of Haller. Detective Lankford (Bryan Cranston, TV's BREAKING BAD) thinks he's more of a sleaze than his clients. Ted Minton (Josh Lucas, THE HULK) is the DA inching to take both the scuzball lawyer and his rich pampered client down. Jesus Martinez (Michael Pena, CRASH) was one of Haller's clients who got sentenced to life for murder. The problem is he might be one of the only innocent clients. Haller says that the worst burden on a defense lawyer is an innocent client because there is only one outcome that is satisfying.
I liked this film because McConaughey's Haller fits into a long history of smartass detectives. He might be a lawyer, but he would be able to share war stories with the likes of Philip Marlowe any day. He might be dealing with conscience-lacking people for a living, but he is not one of them. And sometimes it really helps to have conscience-lacking people as your friends. McConaughey has a nice cast supporting him. Macy subtly sells their longtime friendship and Tomei gives the relationship between Mick and Maggie a lived-in complexity.
Some of the plot twists don't hold up under tough scrutiny, but nothing breaks credibility. Like I said at the start, this is a yarn. We have a smart, savvy, slightly shady hero who uses his wisdom to fight those against him. It's always fun to watch someone outwit people who are looking down on him or her. Most people look at Haller like he's the crap on the bottom of their new shoe, but when Haller is done it's those people that stink and he drives away in the shiny Lincoln.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
