This is a mystery/suspense story that is better than some I have reviewed. Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is an attorney who always charges the highest prices he can because, as he tells one client, “I don’t work for nothing”. He works almost all the time except for brief evenings or weekends when he picks up his young daughter Hayley from his ex-wife Maggie who is played by Marisa Tomei.
When a man named Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) is accused of beating up a prostitute and her subsequent death, he swears to Mick that he is innocent and refuses to take part in any plea bargain because “I am not going to prison for something I didn’t do.” A lot of the film focuses on Mick going after the clues in order to exonerate his client. However, a few things don’t match up and soon Mick finds himself wondering if he is indeed defending an innocent man or if his client simply loves placing the rap on innocent people for the dastardly crimes which have been committed. When Mick’s best friend Frank Levin dies (William H. Macy) after doing some investigating, Mick ups his urgent search for the truth. The film manages a bit of humor here and there as Frank says at one point, “This guy set me up. He’s off my Christmas list.”
Despite the nicely crafted story the language is above our acceptability level as is the sex content and therefore we cannot award our Dove Seal to this movie. It was nice to see Mick undergo some changes and without giving much away he decides to defend someone for free at the end of the film. Still, “family friendly” this one isn’t.
