The Lincoln Lawyer ~ Movie Review

Starring:  Matthew McConaughey, Marissa Tomei, William Macy Jr., Ryan Phillipe, Josh Lucas
Director:  Brad Furman
Running Time:   118 minutes

The Lincoln Lawyer is the story of a criminal defense attorney, Mickey Haller [Matthew McConaughey], who has lost his driver's license (and though we're never told why.... he does like to drink...a lot). His driver, Earl, is kind of like his social secretary, people pull up and he pulls over. Mick likes to conduct most of his business right out of the backseat of his Lincoln Continental, his office on wheels, and very low overhead. Everything is going along swimmingly until Val (an electronics monitor) [John Leguizamo] sends some business Mick's way. A young wealthy playboy, Louis Roulet [Ryan Phillipe], has been accused of assault, attempted rape (and several other offenses) and he has asked that Mick take his case. His mother, Mary Windsor [Frances Fisher] is ultra-wealth, and can't have her son sitting in jail, where all the criminals are. This is when the story gets interesting, because a defense attorney doesn't get to defend very many innocent clients...

The pictures of the supposed prostitute who suffered Louis's hand are horrific. He can't even stand to look at them, his chin quivers as he relays his story to Mick, the innocent young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And his story is almost plausible... almost. Then, incriminating evidence starts turning up... like his knife at the young lady's apartment. Mick can smell a set up, but at first, he's not sure who's being set up, him, his client, or the prosecutor [Josh Lucas]. He sets his investigator, Frank [William H. Macy, Jr.] on the job of ferreting out the truth.

In the meantime, Mick is partying it up with ex-wife, Maggie [Marissa Tomei], trying to find out what information is missing from his case. Then, the shit hits the fan. One day after Mick gets Louis out on bond, he starts seeing coincidences between this case and another, and he becomes suspicious all over again, Louis isn't being straight. And just when he thinks he's going to catch a break, someone murders Frank, and the most obvious killer is Louis.

As Mick begins to dig, Louis is stalking him and his family.  Is he a murderer is Armani? It only gets better from there.

If you haven't seen The Lincoln Lawyer, I highly recommend it. It's fast and funny, deadly serious, heart warming. I know everyone says that Matthew McConaughey only plays one part, the introspective exuberant over confident smart ass know it all. If this is the case, he does it so well, and I'd encourage him to do more, it is a treat. And as an extra bonus, he's easy on the eyes. This is a riveting movie, a power play, and until the very end, it was a whodunit with questions to be answered. There's also some interesting secondary characters, like the detectives [Michael Pare/Bryan Cranston] haunting his steps, the motorcycle gang and it's leader Eddie [Trace Adkins] who dogs his car and takes care of his problems as they crop up and he takes care of theirs, the young drug addict/prostitute, Reggie [Margarita Levieva] without her help, Louis can't be setup, and jail house snitch, Corliss [Shea Whigham] who sets the cops on Louis once again. I really wish William H. Macy Jr. had been in the story longer, only because I think he's an interesting character, never know what kind of part he's going to play or where it will go.

All in all, The Lincoln Lawyer was well worth from my sixteen dollars. I'm sure the dvd will join my collection.

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

From the Cover:

Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn't recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.

Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense pro who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, to defend the clients at the bottom of the legal food chain. It's no wonder that he is despised by cops, prosecutors, and even some of his own clients.

From bikers to con artists to drunk drivers and drug dealers, they're all on Mickey Haller's client list. But when a Beverly Hills rich boy is arrested for brutally beating a woman, Haller has his first high-paying client in years. It's a franchise case and he's sure it will be a slam dunk in the courtroom. For once, he may be defending a client who is actually innocent.

But an investigator is murdered for getting too close to the truth and Haller quickly discovers that his search for innocence has taken him face-to-face with a kind of evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, Haller must use all of his skills to manipulate a system in which he no longer believes.