A canny legal thriller that is about ethics, not law, this stars George Clooney as the “fixer” of a high-powered New York firm. Once a rising star, he is now a problem solver. When one of the senior partners (Tom Wilkinson) goes haywire during a deposition, it’s Clayton who's tasked with calming him down and reassuring the client, a large chemical concern whose product seems to be making people sick. The case isn’t interesting as such; just as in many a legal thriller, there’s no doubt about where justice lies. The interest is with this character, who is the slick sort of person Clooney excels at playing, who is usually a heroic figure, but in this case is a divorced father who has fallen short of his aspirations, and whose debt forces him into hard choices.
Director Tony Gilroy, a successful screenwriter (the Bourne movies, Proof of Life) making his belated debut, contructs the movie intricately using a tight flashback structure. The story begins with a rant, an explosion, and a mass of activity in a large conference room where a large class action appears headed for a long-delayed settlement. (There are no courtroom scenes.) It’s all intentionally confusing, but Gilroy slowly brings the strands of the story together, returning to the same scenes in the end. The editing maintains the tension, often cutting to the next visual while the audio from the previous scene can still be heard. Besides Clooney and Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton also shines as the client's in-house attorney. Gilroy cuts back and forth between her pressing her dress down and rehearsing her lines like an actress, and her actually delivering them. He and Swinton humanize the sort of role that tends to be one-dimensional. All three of these characters realize face a similar ethical dilemma; each reacts differently. I could pretty much see where things were going to end up, but I was fascinated with the way Gilroy and Clooney take us there. This is a superior suspense drama.
IMDB link
reviewed 10/9/07
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