HBO MOVIE REVIEW
Not exactly an edge-of-your-seat thriller, THE CLIENT (Warner Brothers) is a vast improvement over THE PELICAN BRIEF. Maybe I found this latest screen adaptation of a John Grisham best-selling novel more compelling than the previous efforts (THE FIRM predated PELICAN) because I hadn't read it. Fairly standard plotting here as an 11-year-old child, witness to a suicide and in possession of some explosive information, is hounded by the authorities and by the mob. The Mafia goons want to send the kid off to sleep with the fishes, and the media-grubbing federal prosecutor just wants to wring him dry of information. The poor kid finds a sympathetic ally in Reggie Love, a lawyer with a checkered past (drugs, alcohol, failed marriage), who treats him like the son she has lost along the way instead of just another client. The years of Reggie's transformation just don't add up properly when she starts revealing her battle against substance abuse and her law-school days, but that isn't Reggie's fault. The scriptwriter needs a calculator. The excellent cast keeps us involved when the pace starts moseying along where some heart-pounding chills are called for. Susan Sarandon does a marvelous job once again as Reggie, and Tommy Lee Jones pulls a credible N'awlins twang out of his accent bag. Too bad his part as a Bible-quoting US attorney doesn't have more screen time. The kid actor, Brad Renfro, plays it all on a perfect note, totally unforced and believable. Macaulay who? --Jim Byerley
TEEN MOVIE CRITIC
Certainly one of the better of the Grisham adaptations reviewed this week, another conspiracy is at hand in America, and it involves the whereabouts of the body of a state senator. When the accused mob hitman's lawyer goes out to the Bayou country to kill himself, he tells his secret to a 12-year old boy (Brad Renfro from Sleepers). Afterwards, when the lawyer indeed blows his brains out, Renfro is pressured by a high-powered Washington attorney (Tommy Lee Jones) to confess his secret. However, the hitman (Anthony LaPaglia) and his goons want to make absolutely sure that nothing comes out of the kid's mouth. The only person that Renfro can trust and confide in about this mess, is strong-willed and minded attorney, Reggie Love (Outstanding performance by Susan Sarandon!).
A one of a kind film, that outdoes the first two Grisham films with excellent performances (Sarandon, Jones, LaPaglia), an outstanding debut for young Renfro and some very fine (and at times humorous) dialogue. The film will appeal to a wider audience than the earlier adaptations, because it isn't full of the usual heavy-handed lawyer lingo and it is chock full of characters that you can relate to more than the other Grisham renderings. I must say that Sarandon should have won the Oscar for this one, instead of Jessica Lange in the far-fetched soap opera, Blue Sky.
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
RATING: 6.5 out of 10
Date Released: 7/20/94
Running Length: 2:01
Rated: PG-13 (Language, violence, mature themes)
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Brad Renfro, Tommy Lee Jones,
Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, J. T. Walsh, Anthony
Edwards, Ossie Davis
Director: Joel Schumacher
Producers: Arnon Milchan and Steven Reuther
Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman and Robert Getchell based on the novel
by John Grisham
Cinematography: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Music: Howard Shore
Released by Warner Brothers
It's not difficult to understand why The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Client have all been bestsellers. They're tightly-written, don't require a lot of concentration, have simple storylines, and can be read in a sitting or two. In essence, they're what someone I know calls "good trash." Grisham is prolific -- and now, very wealthy.
Unfortunately, his writing makes for a perfect Hollywood screenplay -- lots of action and not much originality. The Client's greatest disadvantage is its flat plot, which includes few (if any) surprises and revolves on a premise that we've seen before -- in The Firm and The Pelican Brief, among others. Grisham apparently has a thing about a group of law officers going after some innocent victim of circumstances.
The Client's premise is tenuous in its believability. The movie starts out with young Mark Sway (Brad Renfro) out in the woods, watching a mob lawyer try to kill himself. Attempting to foil the suicide, Mark gets caught, and has to listen to a rambling confession before the lawyer blows his brains out. After that, hotshot prosecutor Roy Foltrigg (Tommy Lee Jones) wants Mark on the witness stand, correctly assuming that the boy learned the location of the missing corpse of a dead senator. Realizing that he's in over his head, Mark seeks out an attorney. The one he hires, Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon), takes his case for a one dollar fee. But a killer (Anthony LaPaglia) who believes Mark knows too much, is after the boy and anyone who might learn his secret.
Despite plot holes and contrivances, The Client is well-made. Everything about it (except the screenplay) is top-notch. Director Joel Schumacher (whose last film was Falling Down) has spun a web of intrigue by getting the most out of his cast and crew. With expert jobs done by the editor and cinematographer, The Client moves while having its share of dark, brooding moments as well as tautly suspenseful ones.
The cast is impeccable. Newcomer Brad Renfro portrays Mark with a palpable mix of anger and fear. Susan Sarandon gives her usual solid performance, and Tommy Lee Jones oozes equal parts charisma and false charm. Mary-Louise Parker, one of the better representatives of today's crop of twentysomething actors, is underused as Mark's mother Dianne, but she makes the most of every scene she's in.
The Client is an example of what happens when a production team does the best they can possibly do with a routine script. Schumacher has succeeded where two other accomplished directors (Sydney Pollack, who did The Firm, and Alan Pakula, of The Pelican Brief) have failed: bringing a Grisham novel to the screen in a manner that's more entertaining than trying. This isn't a masterpiece of suspense, but it has its moments and is capable of providing some light summer entertainment.
© 1994 James Berardinelli
-- James Berardinelli
e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net
web page: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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