Quick primer on making a good courtroom drama: Get good actors, have someone who at least knows how to hold a pen work on the screenplay, throw some funny dialogue in, and even give us a few surprises. Simple enough, but then why are most John Grisham adaptations dumber than a dead mule?
The Client? Um, no thanks.
The Firm? Not terrible, but just really silly.
The Pelican Brief? HA! Julia Roberts plays a lawyer.
The Chamber? Zzzz. Political propaganda posing as a movie.
A Time to Kill? Wait, I liked this one actually.
So here we have an idealistic young lawyer (Matt Damon) who starts working with a sleazy ambulance chaser (Mickey Rourke!) and a glorified paralegal (Danny DeVito). His only real case involves an evil insurance company, which refuses to pay for the medical care of a young man with leukemia. Of course, he realizes he may have bitten off more than he can chew when he butts heads with the company's lead counsel (Jon Voight).
I realize it doesn't sound shockingly original, but there are enough strong touches to make The Rainmaker quite recommendable. Mainly, the performances by Matt Damon, Danny DeVito and Jon Voight will keep you watching, although Mickey Rourke is also fun in his too-few scenes. Francis Ford Coppola adapted Grisham's book, and it's a tight script. The leukemia angle isn't milked or manipulative, and a good amount of attention is given to the supporting characters, which is essential in a movie like this. (Something the pompous A Civil Action ignored.)
Yeah, they had to go and throw Claire Danes in there as a battered wife our hero gets to defend. (The abusive husband is played by Andrew Shue. Yes, him. They were smart enough to keep the light away from his face in most scenes, though.) But her scenes are few, and even though her acting skills remind me of pudding, her character is interesting enough. Jon Voight is far and away the scene-stealer, once again. He plays a lawyer so oily and scummy, yet also completely charming. Oh yeah, and there's also a friendly Danny Glover as the judge.
The Rainmaker is just a simple little courtroom drama, but it's done well. Although the ending may be predictable, the whole movie is just original enough that you'll probably buy the whole thing.
This kind of movie has certainly been done better, but also a hell of a lot worse. It would be watchable enough for the handful of great performances, but the script deserves a lot of credit for avoiding too many clichés and making something this old still seem interesting.
An inexperienced attorney who together with his crafty sidekick,challenges corporate america in this compelling john grishamtale of legal intrigue and...More at Buy.com
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