The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer (Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, Williams H. Macy, John Lucas, John Leguizamo, Michael Pena, Frances Fisher) – While watching The Lincoln Lawyer, I kept feeling like I had seen this entire script on TV before.  In fact, I’m not sure this story hasn’t been done before on the big and little screen.  The basic story is about a mediocre, good-looking lawyer, Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey), who is more flash than substance and who has a reputation for representing sleazy clients while only being interested in the money.  He catches a break with the help of a bail bondsman (John Leguizamo), who recommends him to handle an unusually high-end case: some rich guy (Ryan Phillippe) accused of brutally beating a woman.  Haller works out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car (hence the title of the movie), which apparently he can’t drive because of his over-drinking.  So why does this guy get handed such a high-profile case?

 

That’s the story.  Phillippe’s character, Louis Roulet, seems like a nice guy; he’s earnest about his innocence; and his case seems easy.  Too easy?  There must be more here.  How do we know?  Well, we simply find out too much about Mick’s bad reputation from a previous case where an innocent man (Michael Pena) rots in jail.  We know these stories will intersect.

 

What follows is a good (but not great) lawyer/crime thriller.  McConaughey is more than passable as this lawyer (the first time since A Time to Kill), and he keeps his shirt on, too.  My favorite character is Frank Levin, played by the ever-great William H. Macy, who plays Haller’s investigator and father figure.  This character comes from a long line of similar quirky characters from Perry Mason’s Paul Drake to The Good Wife’s Kalinda Sharma, all of whom seem to be able to find things out that no one else can.

 

By the time Haller realizes what’s happening, it’s too late.  Or is it?  Right here, the movie could have become unique and maybe even a classic.  But instead, it chooses to follow the plot that you and I have seen before. I admit it’s fun to see how he extricates himself from his moral dilemma.  That makes The Lincoln Lawyer worth seeing.  The courtroom scenes are straight out of TV’s Boston Legal, The Good Wife, Harry’s Law and Perry Mason.

 

In the end, sure, Haller is redeemed; he loses the shallowness and the “it’s all about the money” attitude.  The ending almost doesn’t matter (Is justice served? Does anyone die? Does the bad guy get caught?).  The best part of the movie is the supporting cast, including everyone I mentioned earlier plus Frances Fisher as Roulet’s mother, Josh Lucas as the prosecutor, and Marisa Tomei as Haller’s ex-wife, friend, and mother confessor.  As an ensemble, this works well.  I just wish the plot weren’t so predictable.

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