Redundant and unnecessary.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A newly-qualified wet-behind-the-ears lawyer Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) and his partner Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito)are tasked with taking on insurance giant Great Benefit after they fail to pay out on a claim which could potentially save the life of their mutual client Donny Ray Black (Johnny Whitworth).The Rainmaker shares a bit in common with Pelican Brief (another Grisham novel). In both cases, an underdog fights against the big boys in their pursuit of justice - although to be honest I preferred this John Grisham adaptation to the Pelican Brief.It begins slowly, perhaps a little too slowly, but once it gets going it is a very good film. I think part of the problem with this film is that it sometimes lacks focus; the interesting part of the film is the main plot involving Baylor and Shifflet trying to take down Great Benefit, but the film has a sub-plot involving Baylor trying to protect Kelly Riker (Claire Danes) whom is a victim of domestic abuse. Whilst the sub-plot is quite touching and does help to endear us towards Rudy it ultimately feels unnecessary and seems like it's been tagged on just to create a love interest for Rudy. The very fact that it is completely unrelated to the rest of the story only reinforces this point, and at times it means that the film lacks focus and feels longer than necessary. The oddities in this film continue when we're introduced to Bruiser (Micky Rourke whom it took me a while to recognise to be honest). He's introduced early on and seems important to the story, but then disappears from the film with very little explanation??? Hmm... just seemed a bit strange to me.That being said, once we get to the meat of the film (the courtroom drama aspect) then it does become very enjoyable and this is the side of the film that makes it worth seeing. The performances from the main cast are all excellent; Damon is very convincing as a wet-behind-the ears laywer (he's actually almost too convincing). DeVito is OK, but Voight and Glover are both excellent - Glover in particular looks like he is having a lot of fun here.The Rainmaker is a bit of a plodder in its early stages and there are certainly aspects of it that don't really work, but the courtroom scenes in the second half of the film more than compensate for the shortcomings of the first half and the strong second half makes it worth the effort.

One of those David and Goliath Courtroom Dramas where it is never in doubt Who Wears the Black Hats or the White Hats. But it's Ultimately a Dual Universe, so Everything Starts There and the Nuances Follow, or not.It Resonates, this kind of Story. Just ask John Grisham. So Mega-Director Coppola takes it on and gives it a Bare Bones, No-Frills account using a Talented Cast and relies on the Power of the Story and a Slice of Lower Class Displays.There are some Quirky Characters to be sure. Mickey Rourke as a Greedy and Slimy Lawyer who gives Matt Damon (The Moral Center) His first job working strictly on commission. Danny Devito may be the Quirkiest as a Paralegal (flunked the Bar six times) but provides the Humor in the Rather Depressing Reality of the Commonplace of the Corrupt. He uncouthly motormouths through the Film with a Complex Moral Code and lots of ChutzpahJon Voight is the Villain who is Eclipsed in Evil Doings by a Cameo from the CEO of the Insurance Company and is nothing more than the Now Idle Rich, with a complete lack of Empathy, that sowed His Evil Ways and found it Pays. Other Well Known Actors show up in some Well Drawn Roles.The Movie received mixed results from Critics and Audiences. It was a Tad Familiar at the Time and seemed to be just another High Hollywood and Average Take on a Familiar Grisham Bestseller. But it is a Bit Deeper than that with its Subtle Display of Low-Income Folks who got caught in the Grindhouse of Corporate Greed and Loathsome Individuals.

Most good courtroom dramas and legal movies deal with murder. Those are just simply the most fun ones to see. The ones that do not deal with murder have to be extra great for everybody to like it. This is one that is simply that good without the need of murder. This is based on the 1995 novel by John Grisham of the same name. I'll have to admit, I did not like the novel. It was too boring with too many subplots and just dragged on about nothing. What Grisham bored me with, Coppola condenses in a way that I wish Grisham wrote in the first place. This features a star-studded cast (Matt Damon, Claire Daines, Danny DeVito, Jon Voigt, Danny Glover, Teresa Wright, Mickey Rourke, Roy Scheider) that is bound to make this movie that much more enjoyable. The movie is about recent law-school grad, Rudy Baylor (Damon) who is assigned to a case involving a poor family suing a wealthy insurance company for not paying for their son's cancer treatments. The company hires a high-power law firm with years of experience with very little losses. Rudy has never even been involved in a case before. At first, the lawyers make him look bad. Then Rudy slowly turns the tables on them as he shows what the company has really been up to. That is what makes the courtroom portion so interesting. A youth fresh of of school successfully files a lawsuit in such an exciting and believable way. But it is not realistic how he is assigned a high-profile case right off the bat. In reality, Rudy would have to work for years near the bottom of a firm and slowly get to the position he is at in the film. This is not as good as most of Coppola's other movies and not 1997's best. The acting and everything might be good, but a big chunk of the movie is so gloomy and dull. But it is better than the book. Luckily, it is one of those that gets better as the minutes go. Bit by bit, the case gets more complex and Rudy tries to save the life of a woman (Daines) who's in a stormy relationship with her husband, all which make the movie a very fine watch.

What could be more topical at the moment than this excellent film of 1997 about corruption in the health insurance industry? The film is based upon a best-selling novel by John Grisham, and strangely, nowhere in the film is there any explanation of the meaning of the title, which I presume must have been clear in the original book. The screenplay is by the director, Francis Ford Coppola. I believe it is one of his finest films. Coppola has always been a good screenwriter, and he has crafted a fine screenplay and directed it magnificently. John Toll's cinematography is as usual excellent. The film is notable in retrospect for the appearance of the 18 year-old Claire Danes, long before HOMELAND had ever been dreamt of. She was pretty and talented then, as well as now. The film was also the occasion for the last film appearance by Teresa Wright, bringing to a close 56 years of inspired screen acting. The lead role of the young lawyer who decides he is going to fight corruption is played by Mark Damon, who really is a very fine actor when he is not too busy leaping from rooftops and helicopters in those endless Bourne action movies. The film is a powerful and gripping 'David and Goliath' story, with Matt Damon fighting the forces of corporate evil against all the odds. Jon Voigt is magnificent, giving one of his finest film performances, as the oily lead lawyer of a corrupt insurance company. Danny DeVito is marvellous as a legal assistant who bends all the rules to 'get' the bad guys. This film is, as I have said, more relevant now than when it was made. In the light of the Obamacare train crash, and the loss of insurance cover for millions of people through the sheer idiocy and perversity of the Obamacarrions, this film speaks of yet another angle on the desperate problems of people being deprived of their insurance and left helpless as they lie dying of fatal diseases, with their deaths hastened by the lack of treatments which could save them.