It's fluff. The real problem, though, is it's bad fluff.
After watching several films of significant gravity, I was in the mood for light and easy. Legal Eagles is not easy. It's uncomfortable to watch something so bad and almost painful to see the skilled Robert Redford and Debra Winger trying to work with such a lousy script. Surprisingly, the story is not even easy to follow: the narrative gets lost in all of the attempts to distract you from the fact that there's nothing coherent to follow anyway. Not even lots of fire, car chases, and a big bomb blast can hide everything that doesn't work here unless the movie is what was incinerated. Even the fiery blast is done so badly that it only calls more attention to the lazy and ludicrous choices that make up this film.
There are three redeeming qualities to be found in Legal Eagles: every now and then the contrivances get out of the way enough to let you enjoy watching the boyish charm and natural appeal of Robert Redford. Likewise, there are a few cute moments between Redford and the charismatic Winger. Lastly, if you pay close enough attention, which granted, is probably something you won't want to do with this mess of a movie, you may notice the excellent character actor, Christian Clemenson, in a quick moment in a courtroom scene. Since, he has his head down most of the time and has maybe one line of dialogue, if that, he would be wasted except for the fact that the next case on the docket is announced by the judge as "the state of New York versus Christian Clemenson:" a witty use of an Easter egg.
Unfortunately, those "three redeeming qualities" can't actually redeem this particular waste of a big movie budget. It's too far-fetched even for popcorn fare. It's convoluted, incohesive, and simply ridiculous. If you decide to give it a go, make sure the popcorn is good enough to justify the time spent.
After watching several films of significant gravity, I was in the mood for light and easy. Legal Eagles is not easy. It's uncomfortable to watch something so bad and almost painful to see the skilled Robert Redford and Debra Winger trying to work with such a lousy script. Surprisingly, the story is not even easy to follow: the narrative gets lost in all of the attempts to distract you from the fact that there's nothing coherent to follow anyway. Not even lots of fire, car chases, and a big bomb blast can hide everything that doesn't work here unless the movie is what was incinerated. Even the fiery blast is done so badly that it only calls more attention to the lazy and ludicrous choices that make up this film.
There are three redeeming qualities to be found in Legal Eagles: every now and then the contrivances get out of the way enough to let you enjoy watching the boyish charm and natural appeal of Robert Redford. Likewise, there are a few cute moments between Redford and the charismatic Winger. Lastly, if you pay close enough attention, which granted, is probably something you won't want to do with this mess of a movie, you may notice the excellent character actor, Christian Clemenson, in a quick moment in a courtroom scene. Since, he has his head down most of the time and has maybe one line of dialogue, if that, he would be wasted except for the fact that the next case on the docket is announced by the judge as "the state of New York versus Christian Clemenson:" a witty use of an Easter egg.
Unfortunately, those "three redeeming qualities" can't actually redeem this particular waste of a big movie budget. It's too far-fetched even for popcorn fare. It's convoluted, incohesive, and simply ridiculous. If you decide to give it a go, make sure the popcorn is good enough to justify the time spent.