Slick Los Angeles lawyer Mickey Haller(Matthew McConaughey) has the city in the palm of his hand. A high powered defense attorney happy to count the dregs of society as his primary client pool, Haller is the type of lawyer people point to when they say they hate lawyers. He's loose with the rules, quick on the uptake, and even quicker to negotiate a plea deal for a client. If he wasn't so successful you'd all him an ambulance chaser. The District Attorneys curse his name while falling to his charms and courtroom prowess. Oh, and did I fail to mention that his office is a chauffeured Lincoln Town Car, escorting him to his meetings throughout the city? Homeboy has it made.
Haller's not a complete jerk, he's just a guy with a plan. Part of that plan is taking care of his daughter and ex-wife(Marisa Tomei), who works for the DA. If he's going to do that he needs a really big case. He finds it when socialite prettyboy Louis Roulet(Ryan Phillippe) requests him specifically as his counsel. Roulet has been thrown behind bars, charged with rape and attempted murder. Roulet forcefully demands right from the start that there'll be no deals this time. It's straight innocent, no jail time. Period. It becomes clear very quickly that this case is one giant legal snake pit. The victim is a prostitute, which should score Roulet some points with the jury. But then there's Rolet's caginess. He just can't quite get his story straight, and the DA is far too confident. Something isn't adding up, and the secrets being withheld could have consequences far beyond a simple courtroom verdict.
Matthew McConaughey is an actor who irritates the crap outta me. Not because he's particularly bad in anything specific, but because so much of his potential has gone to waste mugging for the camera opposite Kate Hudson in bad rom-coms. As we saw when he played another cunning lawyer in A Time To Kill
, he can be a fantastic dramatic actor when given material worth his time. McConaughey nails a role that could have become very cliche very quickly. We've all seen the story of the defense attorney at odds with his profession, which is basically letting creeps back out on the street. It's a role that seems tailor made for the actor, both calling for his good looks and charismatic personality, which again works just as well in reverse when the full weight of his burden starts to take it's toll. Quite simply this is the best McConaughey has been in years, possibly ever. I think in a lot of ways McConaughey is an actor who performs to the level of his supporting cast. I would look again to his two best performance in my opinion: A Time To Kill
, and Contact
opposite Jodie Foster. Here he gets to work with the great William H. Macy, a guy who has never had a dishonest emotion on screen ever. He gets to play Haller's private investigator sidekick, a wild haired neurotic helping dig into Roulet's questionable social life. Tomei is as sexy and solid as ever, even though her character isn't given a whole lot to do. It took Phillippe some time to work his way into the arrogant elitist role, but eventually he fits into it perfectly. The surprise was Josh Lucas as Haller's prosecutorial opponent. It's crazy to think that at one point both Lucas and McConaughey were very similar actors with career paths headed in the same direction(remember Stealth
? Blah.). Now the two couldnt be more different, and it's personified by the extreme differences in their characters. I could've used a bit more of Katherine Moenig(The L Word
), and Michael Pena(The Lucky Ones
) is absolutely wasted. Both are extremely good in throw away roles. Relatively unknown director Brad Furman has shown a marked improvement since his first(and only other) theatrical film, the low budget heist flick, The Take
. He has a knack for the gritty, concrete side of Los Angeles, like he's stealing a page from David Ayer or Antoine Fuqua. The musical score is a bumpin' ode to 90s hip hop gems from Erick Sermon
to Gangstarr
(a fitting tribute to the fallen Guru). The beats bounce the story along in perfect sync with Furman's upbeat visual style. The real surprise is how well he also keeps the courtroom drama intriguing. Those have a tendency to become very stagnant. As the twists continue to mount, my worry was that the story would start to unravel. It isn't long before the body counts start to rise and characters begin to reveal their true selves. Fortunately the script by John Romano never piles on more surprises than is necessary, keeping the majority of the focus on Haller's moral dilemma. Can Haller maintain his already shaky faith in the justice system when the system is crashing down around him?
Adapted from the work of crime novelist Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer is the type of movie we just don't get much of anymore. A legal thriller that's smart, mysterious, and will keep you on your toes from beginning to the very end. Here's hoping this is the start of a trend.
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