It seemed in the 90's that Hollywood was on a mission to film every book from the prolific pen of best-selling writer John Grisham. I've never read one of his books but having watched a few of the movie adaptations of his novels, I almost feel I could write one. All you need is an idealistic central lawyer, confront them with a big moral dilemma, close with a big courtroom scene and simmer but never quite bring to the boil.
Matt Damon is the youthful unsullied hero here who belies his poor-boy background to try become a solicitor but who has to compromise his moral standards in starting up with a crooked ambulance-chasing litigation practice barely one step ahead of the law. There he's paired chalk and cheese-style with seen-it-all para-legal Danny De Vito and gets involved in not one but two cases which stretch his honesty and integrity to the max, one involving a law-suit against a mega-rich private medical insurance company denying a dying leukaemia victim his due pay-out and the other a cuddly old rich granny trying to stop her grasping kinfolk from getting her money when she expires. Along the way he also somehow manages to get romantically involved with a young battered wife.
To be truthful, there's not much to get excited about here, the drama fails to grip as a thriller and the supposed feel-good sentimental climax underwhelms too.
Damon and DeVito are okay in their stereotyped parts and Jon Voight gets to roll his eyes and chew the scenery as Mr Big Bad Corporate Lawyer.
The only surprising thing about the whole movie in fact is the dull TV-movie type direction it gets from none other than Francis Ford Coppola. Either he was under strict instructions to film the book as written or he really has lost it since his 70's hey-day. This is not his finest hour by any manner of means.
Matt Damon is the youthful unsullied hero here who belies his poor-boy background to try become a solicitor but who has to compromise his moral standards in starting up with a crooked ambulance-chasing litigation practice barely one step ahead of the law. There he's paired chalk and cheese-style with seen-it-all para-legal Danny De Vito and gets involved in not one but two cases which stretch his honesty and integrity to the max, one involving a law-suit against a mega-rich private medical insurance company denying a dying leukaemia victim his due pay-out and the other a cuddly old rich granny trying to stop her grasping kinfolk from getting her money when she expires. Along the way he also somehow manages to get romantically involved with a young battered wife.
To be truthful, there's not much to get excited about here, the drama fails to grip as a thriller and the supposed feel-good sentimental climax underwhelms too.
Damon and DeVito are okay in their stereotyped parts and Jon Voight gets to roll his eyes and chew the scenery as Mr Big Bad Corporate Lawyer.
The only surprising thing about the whole movie in fact is the dull TV-movie type direction it gets from none other than Francis Ford Coppola. Either he was under strict instructions to film the book as written or he really has lost it since his 70's hey-day. This is not his finest hour by any manner of means.