The underlying problem is the mainstream film format's length constraints, which seem to have forced a rude bowdlerization of the story.
60
Film.comJohn Hartl
Film.comJohn Hartl
All the ingredients are here for both a smashing courtroom drama and a legitimate tearjerker, but the film ultimately doesn't have the technique or the heart to deliver either.
A jaundiced view of litigation, however authentic, is not necessarily the stuff of great drama, even of the legal-thriller variety, which by definition is confined to a claustrophobic courtroom.
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A slick, shameless job that takes way too long to make its point.