It’s a tremendously flawed film but buoyed, and ultimately archiveable, because of the sheer entertainment factor– and strong performances by an ensemble cast at the height of their powers in 1996.
This isn’t peak McConaughey—that would come during the McConassiance of 2012-2014 — but he’s a remarkably solid lead here- southern, good-looking, driven, charming- and he’s 26 and this is his 4th film and he had no training as an actor- it’s a feat to be able to carry this weighty material and lead this ensemble
The rest of the cast is brilliant, too—Schumacher cuts corners with spot-on casting (Beth Grant playing someone hate-able- Kiefer as another southern hardliner after a few good men)—but look at that lineup in 1996- Samuel L is hot off of Pulp Fiction in 1994, Sandra Bullock off of Speed (also 1994), Kevin Spacey won an Oscar the year before for The Usual Suspects. Chris Cooper is just coming on (he’d be with McConaughey again in John Sayles Lone Star in the same year), Sutherland and Platt are great- the debut (small role) for Octavia Spencer—in all there are 6 Oscar-winners here and although the script isn’t brilliant- and Schumacher’s direction not inventive—there’s good material here for actors in Grisham’s world.
Great shot of Samuel L’s eyes as he comes out of the stairs during a pivotal scene
Southern– -Mississippi- there’s sweat on every actor in every scene- I love it- adds up to atmosphere- a great detail
A capital punishment morality play
Ebert- at least in 1996- called it the best Grisham— likes the film but derides it for “milking” and exploiting (my word) the issue/situation for all it’s worth—it does sort of just strike a match to watch it burn here
There are other flaws- MM gets drunk the night before like several big moments that just aren’t believable no matter how stressed he is—the film also doesn’t show enough of him working on this case- it looks like the opposite actually because of all the plotting— the legal scenes really walk that line (and past) it on sustaining our disbelief on some of the actual laws and actions of the lawyers/judges
Samuel L’s “burn in hell” scene and dialogue is fantastic. It’s not just him though- Spacey is great at needling him and the editing ramps up and crescendos very well
McConaughey’s closing statement is another scene of great acting like Samuel L’s burn in hell scene- fantastically emoted—great performance
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