A Brilliant Conflict

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Pressured by an ambitious district attorney after witnessing the suicide of a mob lawyer, a bratty adolescent seeks legal advise from a lawyer who lost custody of her children during her divorce in this legal thriller based on a novel by John Grisham. Susan Sarandon won the BAFTA Best Actress award for the film and received an Oscar nomination for her turn as the divorced lawyer. It is a better performance then one might expect as she does a great job quoting the law when facing up to the DA and fighting all legal avenues available when trying to get the boy out of having to take the stand in court; it is not all maternal instincts, though these do factor into play too. With this in mind, the film grows far too sentimental for its own good in its final few scenes. Brad Renfro's performance as the boy works also against the film; he is so insolent and rude that he is nearly impossible to warm to. The film's most grating performance though comes from Anthony LaPaglia as the rather brainless mafia goon out to get Renfro. The film is admittedly encapsulating though in the scenes where Renfro and LaPaglia manage to keep their mouths shut. There are lots of thrills and chills throughout, whether it be Renfro noticing the mafia tattoo on the hand of a seemingly kind stranger, or Renfro given a scare in a darkened elevator. Tommy Lee Jones also does what he can with his publicity-loving DA character.

I remember this as a great movie by Sarandon (Dead Man Walking), who got an Oscar nomination out of her performance in a year of great movies, the best being, of course, Four Weddings and a Funeral.Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive, JFK) was super as the Rev. Roy, and the lovely and talented Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds", "Angels in America") was great as Mark's (Brad Renfro) mom. Anthony LaPaglia was just the embodiment of evil as Barry Muldano.The supporting cast reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood: J.T. Walsh, William H. Macy, Bradley Whitford, Anthony Edwards, Ossie Davis, and more.

Thriller about a young boy Mark Sway (Renfro) who witnesses the suicide of a man (Olkewicz) with ties to the mob. The man decides to spill certain details about the mob before his suicide, sucking Mark into the crossfire of a mob murder. The kid must hire his own lawyer (Sarandon) to protect his rights, since district attorney (Tommy Lee Jones) is fixated on taking down the mob and won't stop at anything--even willing to put the safety of Mark at risk. Very '90s, very Schumacher, and very Grisham. Hard to know what to feel for Tommy Lee Jones' character, and it's even more confusing as to why Romey didn't just blow his brains out sooner with the gun right there in the car! A lot of holes at the beginning of the film, and the plot neither fills them or makes up for them. You won't gain anything from watching this so-called "mystery-thriller". Am I really supposed to take LaPaglia serious?** (out of four)

I was hooked from the start when, because of the great writing, acting and directing, I felt concerned about the characters even though I knew they really weren't in danger because they were the crux of the movie. And that pleasant surprise continued right to the end of the film with its clever writing that had me alternately enthralled or chuckling (appropriately) at plot twists. Another pleasant surprise was that it had a PG-13 rating. Aside from the rough language many teens actually use, there was no unnecessary gore, sex or violence. Ironic given the Mafia plot line. You get the point & feeling without the unnecessary graphic element most other directors would go for.I suspected it would be a great movie with Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon in it & I wasn't disappointed. The one deduction was for some obvious plot holes.The shattering information that the lead died as a teenager in real life of a heroin overdose just makes it more of a tragedy that his talent is gone. But he did himself proud with this, his debut.