The Lincoln Lawyer

Based on the book by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer follows slick attorney Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) as he agrees to defend a wealthy playboy (Ryan Phillippe’s Louis Roulet) accused of battery – with complications inevitably ensuing as Mickey makes a series of shocking discoveries. Though basically entertaining from start to finish, The Lincoln Lawyer, for the most part, comes off as a prototypical legal thriller that seems to have emerged directly from a template for films of this ilk – as scripter John Romano offers up a surprise-free narrative that generally goes exactly where one might’ve anticipated (eg as soon as a certain supporting character first arrives onscreen, there’s almost no doubt that he/she is destined to meet a grisly end). Director Brad Furman’s decidedly deliberate sensibilities are exacerbated by his reliance on needless subplots, with the movie’s ongoing emphasis on Mickey’s on-again-off-again relationship with Marisa Tomei’s Maggie McPherson undoubtedly standing as the most obvious example of this. There’s little doubt, however, that The Lincoln Lawyer does improve steadily as it progresses, as the stellar (and unexpectedly riveting) courtroom scenes that crop up in the film’s third act compensate for the otherwise stale atmosphere. (It’s also impossible not to get a kick out of the movie’s impressively populated supporting cast, which includes, among others, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, and Bryan Cranston.) The end result is a perfectly serviceable legal thriller that passes the time and gets the job done, but it’s hard to envision the movie ever being ranked among the best that the genre has to offer.

**1/2 out of ****