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You really shoot your client's mother?


The Lincoln Lawyer
(2011)

What really sinks this is the clueless direction. I think it's trying to go for some kind of modern LA Noir, a la Body Heat, but Brad Furman is consistently unable to steer a sense of pace or tone, with disjointed scenes or clumsy staging. 

 His musical choices are intrusive or strange and his direction of emotive scenes leaves his actors stranded (McConaughey in his innumerable drowning of sorrows at the end of a bar scenes especially). 

Fortunately the plot itself is quite involving, concerning McConaughey's defence of rich kid Ryan Philippe. He’s accused of murder, and there's expected twists and turns as the case develops. The DVD box quote had "The best legal thriller since Jagged Edge". Since The Juror might be a more accurate comparison of quality.

**1/2

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