Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Before first seeing this film some years ago, I'll admit to having suspicions about John Grisham as a writer. Not that I had actually read any of his novels, but I unconsciously dumped him into a 'bestseller to blockbuster' category, along with Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, etc. Action heroes, baddie government or military agents, incredulous plots, tidy resolutions. You know the genre, and the endless success of the films keeps breeding more of the same.

Seeing The Firm (1993) and The Pelican Brief (1993) did little to convince me that I was wrong. But The Client was different. It had a thrilling opening scene with a disturbed, suicidal lawyer (played by Walter Olkewicz). Child endangerment was then and now a familiar Hollywood formula (e.g. Home Alone, Witness), but this time the tension was palpable.

While The Client rang up big box office business, the critical praise was underwhelming. There were two strikes against the film before anyone had seen it. Grisham's past film adaptations weren't particularly good, while director Joel Schumacher was best known in the business for nearly killing Julia Roberts' career with Dying Young (1991).

However, as with The Firm, The Client benefited from the presence of power casting. Tommy Lee Jones was well suited to play garrulous, self-serving, and scene stealing federal prosecutor Roy Foltrigg. He gets to match wits with small-time attorney Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon), with all the odds seemingly on his side.

Love has been hired for a dollar by young Mark Sway (Brad Renfro), a child who has been threatened by both gangsters and law officers. Mark has learned where the body is buried, in a scene traumatic enough to put his younger brother Ricky (David Speck) into the hospital with a coma. This plot device manages to tie down Mark's gorgeous white trash mother (Mary-Louise Parker), who is told that she must not leave Ricky's side. Mark is now free to find adventure (and buried bodies) with a new mother substitute, Reggie Love.

The Client provided Susan Sarandon with a terrific, tailor-made role. Her character had to project courage and confidence, while in fact she was unsure of what to do next. Reggie's quick decisions and resourcefulness win out in the end, but she knows that a mistake could get her into a lot of trouble. She won a British Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, and was also nominated for an Oscar.

It was her third such nomination in four years, following Thelma & Louise (1991) and Lorenzo's Oil (1992). Sarandon would finally win Best Actress the next year, for Dead Man Walking (1995). But I'll always remember her as the bride in The Rocky Horror Picture Show...

While critics praised the performances of Sarandon and Jones, the real star of the film is seventh-billed Brad Renfro. Renfro, making his film debut, avoids cutesy-kid posing and is surprisingly convincing. He has all the well-deserved suspicions of adults, but at the same time, he wants to protect his family and do the right thing.

Admittedly, the plot machinations can stretch credibility. At one point, both Mark and Reggie become fugitives from justice. They have to learn if the body is really there, you see, because if it isn't, then Mark won't get immunity, and then the mobsters will get his family. And of course the mobsters themselves also arrive at the exact same time. And are we to believe that Reggie Love's favorite Led Zeppelin song is the live version of "Moby Dick"? I don't think so.

If Mark had simply told the police what he knew in the first place, he could have saved everyone a great deal of trouble. But then the movie would be over in twenty minutes, and first-billed Sarandon would never have entered the picture.

The Client is a great example of a formula Hollywood blockbuster that somehow is a far better film than it should be. Credit goes to the much ridiculed Schumacher (Batman & Robin), who extends tension like Alfred Hitchcock during his prime. If you can suspend your disbelief, then you will be glued to your seat.

The Client was made into a short-lived television series, starring JoBeth Williams. Schumacher would subsequently direct another Grisham novel adaptation, A Time to Kill (1997). (84/100)

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12