Viewed in
2011
Formats
DVD
Premise
Matthew McConaughey stars as a crafty lawyer who defends Ryan Phillippe from rape charges.
Liked
The interesting crime mystery and well-acted cast.
Disliked
The slightly too fancy camerawork.
Thoughts
Overall, it was well-done and enjoyable.
I mainly liked the film for the strong acting. McConaughey was likable and easily believable as a charming lawyer with shady morals. The great cast included strong performances by Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Bryan Cranston, Michael Pena and Josh Lucas. But for me, Phillippe was gravitating with a cool arc and showed off his acting range as a force to be reckoned with.
The plot was compelling with plenty of intriguing twists and reveals. I never felt like I was jerked around arbitrarily nor manipulatively. There was a nice balance of intense courtroom drama and brain-tickling sleuthing moments.
One interesting aspect with The Lincoln Lawyer was the decision to use bluesy music throughout. It succeeded in implementing a blue-collar feel to a universe of lawyers, playboys and posh Los Angeles. That probably enabled these rich characters to feel relatable.
While director Brad Furman did a good job with pacing and presentation, he tried too hard to make every scene visually interesting. The characters and story were strong enough that he didn't need dazzling camerawork to entertain me. I wasn't annoyed, but I was definitely more than aware of it.
Another part that bugged me was one too many subplots. This led to too many minor characters. At times, I was lost in keeping track of who was who and why they were there. Even worse, this caused the film to have multiple endings and made the main plot's resolution somewhat anti-climatic.
This film was better than I thought, thanks to strong performances and writing. It could've been tighter and cleaner at the end, but very a enjoyable ride.
What I would change
Removed the gun subplot.
