Review: The Lincoln Lawyer

Matthew McConaughey is an actor whose career has often frustrated and disappointed those who saw his potential in such early projects as Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused. Following on the heels of that terrific breakthrough he seemed to be heading in a promising direction as a dramatic actor, with solid turns in films such as A Time To Kill, Contact, and Frailty. Over the past few years, however, he has been more associated with vapid romantic comedies, films like Fools Gold and Failure to Launch which have seen him coasting by on his charisma and good looks, (not to mention his trademark “Alright, alright, alright” Texas drawl), revealing little of the promise he displayed earlier in his career. That’s why it is so nice to see him starring in The Lincoln Lawyer, a refreshingly old school legal thriller that sees McConaughey finally utilizing his natural charm in service of a well written and nuanced character.

The Lincoln Lawyer introduces us to Mickey Haller (McConaughey), a criminal defense attorney who does most of his business out of the back of a Lincoln sedan. As the film begins he is given an opportunity to take a case that could result in a lot of money: an assault with a deadly weapon charge against a young real estate mogul (Ryan Phillipe), who swears up and down that he is innocent. After listening to his story and suspecting that, for once, he might be defending an innocent man, Haller takes the case. While he and his personal investigator (William H. Macy, in a strong supporting turn) probe further into their client and his past they unearth more than they bargained for, embroiling Haller in a tangled web of crime and deceit that may have connections to a case that haunts him from his past.

The Lincoln Lawyer, it’s strange to say, is something of an anomaly within the current cinematic landscape: a character driven legal thriller that features almost no action, instead deriving its considerable tension from courtroom proceedings and good old fashioned detective work. The case takes an unexpected turn relatively early on in the film, getting the twist out of the way early on in order to focus on what is really interesting: McConaughey’s thorny legal situation and his attempts to extricate himself. The scenes set in court, where he squares off against a District Attorney (played by Josh Lucas), are the best in the film. It’s hard to describe precisely the nature of the quandary that Haller finds himself in without spoiling the film, but it is a real delight watching him try to outwit his foes, using only his quick wit and intuitive skills to his advantage. Except for one (exceptionally brief) interlude at the end the film admirably stays away from any sort of action catharsis, relying on old school pleasures like well-rounded characters and a tightly plotted screenplay to get thrills.

The cast adds immeasurably. McConaughey, as noted before, lives up to his potential for the first time in a long while. His natural, good-time smirk fits him as a morally adrift trial lawyer, but when things really heat up in the plot he shows unexpected depths, his charm hardening into shark-like focus as he begins his plotting. Marisa Tomei (who inexplicably seems to be getting more beautiful as she ages) has a more underwritten role – McConaughey’s ex-wife and rival attorney – but still manages to bring warmth and a little humor. It’s to her credit that her subplot seems less pointless than it would on the written page. Ryan Phillipe has long struck me as a blank face, someone who looked good and that’s it. Here however he shines; for his role to work you need to portray some pretty fast shifts in character and he pulls it off admirably. Between this and his work in last years MacGruber, Phillipe is really proving his worth as an actor. The rest of the cast is filled with fantastic character actors, people like William H. Macy, Bryan Cranston and Bob Gunton, who do great work in their smaller roles.

Not everything works in The Lincoln Lawyer. The direction, while suited to the subdued proceedings for the most part, will too often try to highlight the drama of one on one conversations by filming them in a series of extreme close-ups. At a certain point these become a little tired; we don’t need to be able to see every single drop of sweat and every single pore from an actor during an intensely dramatic moment. The film also has, perhaps, one too many endings, shoe-horning in a last moment “twist” that feels a little unearned after what has come before. Even still, this is a terrifically entertaining film, one that is all too rare in today’s ADD, younger skewing Hollywood. It also provided a welcome return to the realm of acting for Matthew McConaughey, an actor whom I had long ago written off. It’s a performance and a film the likes of which we would be doing well to see more of.