O Cliente

"The Client" is one of the better big-screen adaptations of a John Grisham novel and it's largely down to a terrific cast. some of who weren't even 'names' at the time. The plot is fairly typical Grisham, (a witness to a killing needs to be protected from the killers), but the twist here is that the killing was a suicide, the victim a mob lawyer who blurted out where the body was hidden before blowing his brains out and the witness, an eleven year old street-wise kid.

It's a decent thriller plot and it does make for an entertaining picture but it's given quite a lift by a whole host of superb actors with Susan Sarandon taking the lioness' share of the honors, (she won the BAFTA), as the hard-nosed lawyer the kid hires. Other lawyers determined to bring down the mob include Tommy Lee Jones, J.T, Walsh, Bradley Whitford and Anthony Heald while Anthony La Paglia is the principal bad guy and there's a very nice supporting performance from the great Will Patton as the kind of policeman you're not sure if you can trust or not. Brad Renfro is the kid. Unfortunately, the director was Joel Schmuacher who doesn't bring a lot of imagination to the party but keeps things moving along in predictable fashion. A better director might have turned this into a classic.

Wow, what a cast! And they all deliver the goods too. Susan Sarandon is an exceptional actress. Watch the scene in "Dead Man Walking" when she visits the family of one of the victims. She doesn't just sit quietly. She actively "listens" to them. And Tommy Lee Jones uncovers the comic side of his dashing political lawyer. Even the eleven-year-old kid gives a spot on performance, anything but cute, which is a relief. The smaller roles are equally well done although there is less to be done well. J. T. Walsh is always good. Mary-Louise Parker never makes a wrong move as the stressed-out mother. Ossie Davis is a monumental presence as the judge. Bill Macy is given only a few lines.

The script isn't bad either, especially in the first half of the film, in which the characters are being established. There are, alas, three clichés.

The bad guys LOOK like move bad guys usually look. They dress in black, have long greasy hair, are engraved with threatening jailhouse tattoos of barbed wire and things, and they never seem to enjoy themselves.

There are also two stereotypical scenes which really should have been avoided. In the first, the boy, Renfro, is trying to sneak out of a hospital. He pokes his face through a door into the reception room, where he sees his mother and two cops walking around. In the shadows he also spots the man he knows is trying to murder him. So what does he do? Does he run to his Mom and the police for protection? Certainly not. He does what aay potential murder victim would do. He dashes away from safety, down several flights of an empty stairway, followed closely by the squinter with a knife. The scene that follows is lifted straight out of "Coma," with the killer being locked in a refrigerator.

The other stereotyped situation is towards the end, when (just by the most improbable of coincidences) Sarandon and Renfro reach an empty boat house at the same time as three of the heavies. The two innocents try to avoid being discovered. There is a lot of tiptoeing around on creaky boards, a foot chase through some bushes, one of those scenes in which one person holds a gun on a second, and the second smiles and says, "You don't have the guts to pull the trigger," and walks up closer to the muzzle.

I've pointed out these weaknesses not because this is a bad movie. It's really pretty good. But the cast is so outstanding that any weakness in the story is the more highly illuminated.

See it, if only to see the range of facial expressions into which Jones is able to fashion his face.

Susan Sarandon should stick with the tough minded lawyer more often. Perfectly cast in the role of Reggie Love, she brings a certain charm to a role which could have lacked in that department. And to make matters even tougher on her, she was almost outshined by Brad Renfro, who made quite an impression in a film such as this. While the film was put together in a rather conventional way, with Tommy Lee Jones playing an over clichéd character, the film is still rather gripping. A decent film to have in your collection, and one of the better John Grisham book-turned-movie adaptations.

I saw The Client in the cinema when it was all the ralge to go to the cinema. I thought The Firm was better, but still, The Client doesn't necessarily disappoint. But I expected more from a cinematic experience. The Client could have been a more than decent TV film I guess.

Back in 1994, I read this book and just like other John Grisham's novels, with the exception of "The Pelican Brief", once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.

Director Joel Schumacher and Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman did an excellent job keeping the movie within the storyline without doing a horrible "hatchet job" most do to novels.

In addition, there was an excellent flow to the movie. It kept moving along; There wasn't very many slow moments in it and it kept me on the edge of my seat.

The casting was great as well. I liked Susan Sarandon as Reggie Love, Brad Renfro as Mark Sway, Tommy Lee Jones was a perfect fit as the "Revered" Roy Foltrigg. Will Patton as Sergent Hardy, was an excellent sleezy and conniving officer.

When I saw Anthony LaPaglia as Barry "The Blade" Muldano, I didn't envision the greasy sleezeball he portrayed, but someone more tougher or perhaps more thuggish. But Anthony LaPaglia fit just fine.

This is a movie worth renting.