The Lincoln Lawyer

[4.0
stars] [IMDb Link]

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

A movie based on a book by superstar crime fiction writer, Michael Connelly. By coincidence, I watched this around the same time I was reading an earlier Connelly book, The Closers. I guess that makes me a fan.

The hero here is Mickey Haller, a slick defense lawyer, operating out of his car, comfortable representing lowlifes, prefers dealing in cash up front. But out of the blue comes a rich client who claims he's been set up on an assault charge against a hooker. You can almost hear a ka-ching! sound effect as Mickey takes the case.

Although the hooker has, indeed, been beat up, Mickey's strategy seems straightforward: find another possible story to plant reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury. Since a follow-on civil suit against the rich guy could likely yield millions to the victim, an alternate explanation even seems likely.

But—plot twist!—things are not what they seem, a botched case from his past is unearthed, and soon Mickey finds both his career and his family threatened.

A very competent thriller that held my interest. Matthew McConaughey plays Mickey pretty well. (And there are a bunch of other actors that always deliver interesting performances: William H. Macy, Marisa Tomei, John Leguizamo, even Bryan Cranston in a small role) I heard a while back that McConaughey takes his shirt off in every movie he's in. That couldn't be true in even a staid legal-thriller movie, could it?

Oh, yes it could.


Last Modified 2024-01-28 2:33 PM EDT