'The Lincoln Lawyer'

'The Lincoln Lawyer' (R) (3 stars)

Writer: John Romano based on novel by Michael Connelly
Director: Brad Furman
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Phillippe, Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy,
Bob Gunton, John Leguizamo, Michael Pena, Frances Fisher, Josh Lucas, Micahel Pare,
Trace Adkins, Bryan Cranston, Shea Whigham

"The Lincoln Lawyer" is a great game of cat and mouse between a slick lawyer and his client who may be guilty. The movie is based on a famous novel by Michael Connelly and I have not read it. Connelly must have created some wonderful characters because there are a lot of cool ones in the movie and the cast is amazing! If you want a crackling good mystery and legal thriller and you love great character actors you will eat this up. Matthew McConaughey plays Mick Haller, a slick defense lawyer who gets sleazy clients off for murder and other crimes. Though there was one case where he failed at defending a man who claimed he was innocent. He is a very flashy, cocky and confident lawyer and McConaughey, in his best role in years, nails him down perfectly.

Mick is given a case that involves a young, rich professional named Louis who is being charged with assaulting a young woman he met in a club. He claims his innocence to Mick, telling him that the girl was a prostitute, lured him to her place where he was attacked by someone. Mick gathers his private detective played by William H. Macy and tries to find out if his client is really innocent. Another case comes up that is tied in to Louis that also involves Mick. Mick tried to defend someone from a murder charge and that man was found guilty. Louis's name comes up in that case and Mick starts to have doubts about his new client. Mick also is dealing with his ex wife, played by Marisa Tomei, and two cops who are trying to investigate his ties to Louis.

"The Lincoln Lawyer" reminds me of a good John Grisham novel but I like this movie much better than most of the Grisham movie adaptations. The characters are all well written and this has to be one of my favorite casts in a movie in such a long time.
All the performances are wonderful and each character, even the very small ones, are all memorable. There is Tomei as the ex wife and lately she has been on fire. There is the legendary William H. Macy as the detective who gets all the big laughs. Whenever Macy is in a movie and shows up I get a huge smile on my face. Also excellent are John Leguizamo, Josh Lucas, Ryan Phillippe and Bryan Cranston who is becoming like Macy is now, a legend. There is also a very welcome return to the screen by 80's cult icon Michael Pare and a turn by Trace Adkins that should get noticed and get him more film offers.

The movie is a lot of fun, well written and thought out and the twists and turns are all believable and smart. When a television show like "Law and Order:SVU", which is my favorite, gives you episodes so much better than most big screen courtroom thrillers you have to step up your game. This movie does it and I think McConaughey is brilliant here making us believe his transformation from slick, cool lawyer to scared, frustrated, played like a fool lawyer. After seeing this movie I remembered again how much of a magnetic star McConaughey is. So what you have here is a fun night at the movies on a Saturday, date movie that delivers all the goods. I loved the story and I had a field day with all the wonderful characters and actors.