the audience applauded

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Just what I expected

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The Firm is a top notch legal thriller from Sydney Pollack based on the John Grisham bestseller. Tom Cruise- at the height of his wave- plays young hot shot recently graduated Mitch Mcdeere. He is a brilliant mind and all the top firms want him and he decides to go for Memphis based small firm. He is mentored by a cunning Gene Hackman as he comes to understand that this small firm has a sinister underbelly. Featuring great performances and a breezy plot The Firm was a big success then and is still a good film today.

There are a lot of positives "The Firm" has going for it: great ensemble cast, intriguing lawyer/business plot line, & great ending that comes out of nowhere. Despite being a very "slick" Hollywood production, those "plusses" make the film interesting enough to enjoy from beginning to end.For a basic plot summary, "The Firm" sees young lawyer Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) & his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) courted in a prestigious fashion by a Memphis law firm. After being paired with mentor Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman), however, Mitch & Abby begin to put together the dark secret behind the existence of the firm...one which ultimately involves the FBI and much business intrigue.The plot of "The Firm" is its hallmark, to be sure. There are enough twists and turns to keep you interested from start to finish, and you'll never quite guess what might happen next. There are many business-ethics issues in play throughout the entire film, all of which are navigated very perceptively by director Sydney Pollack.The acting is also top-notch (if not a bit over-the-top at times). Besides those mentioned above, other names like Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brimley, Gary Busey, & Tobin Bell turn in good showings. There is hardly a dull scene in the entire experience thanks in large part of this enlarged acting crew.Thus, "The Firm" is a good "lawyer intrigue" movie that fails to rise to the status of, say, "A Few Good Men". It is very comparable to "The Devil's Advocate" in both overall success & material. A 3.5 star rating would be my exact choice, but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt due to the plot-twists that surprised me and an ending that had me feel it was all worthwhile.

Tom Cruise's character is officially the dumbest lawyer who's ever lived! He doesn't ask a question when a supposedly small Memphis law firm offers him far more than a Wall Street firm. Really? And, it's all downhill from there in John Grisham's impossibly laughable pulp thriller.Grisham has always turned out potboilers, melodramatic legal tales that strain credulity. But this, his first, is even more impossible to believe than most!The film is reasonably made. But, a competently made film that has a truly Loony Tunes blueprint is just that. And, the believability just gets more and more strained as it goes.Dave Grusin attempts a one-instrument-only film score with performing the whole thing with only a piano. It's an admirable attempt, but it just doesn't work. Bernard Hermann created an all-string film score for "Psycho," but that included the full string section: violins, cellos, bass violins, etc.This movie is such a joke! Embarrassing.** (2 Out of 10 Stars)

A tight and adroit thriller about a lawyer who must walk a treacherous path between a rock and a hard place. Tom Cruise is captivating throughout and complimented by a talented cast, including Gene Hackman as a Firm senior who sees in him a potential for redemption. Only a face like Cruise's could convince us that a lawyer could swim through an ocean of excrement and come out smelling of roses. In support of his integrity is the relationship he has with his wife, the doe-eyed Jeanne Tripplehorn, where honesty triumphs over mollification. Cruise and David Strathairn, unwittingly I think, manage to reproduce the recovering affection of the fraternal relationship seen in 'Rain Man'. The appeal of this movie, which incessantly brings us throughout all the delightful intricacies of a John Grisham novel, is that McDeere (Cruise) is not only likable but credible. Even at his most incensed he remains nothing less nor more than an incredibly desperate man fighting for his existence, and his life.If you enjoy a more cerebral thriller and wit with your grit you won't be disappointed by The Firm.