{"id":1203,"date":"2011-03-17T15:43:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T22:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1203"},"modified":"2011-03-17T15:49:07","modified_gmt":"2011-03-17T22:49:07","slug":"review-the-lincoln-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1203","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE LINCOLN LAWYER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\u201cThe Lincoln Lawyer\u201d is one of the most entertaining legal thrillers since 2007\u2019s \u201cFracture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie can be almost summed up by its title. A lawyer, Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey), rides around in a Lincoln Town Car meeting with clients and dispensing his flavor of criminal justice. Haller\u2019s got baggage. Having lost his driver\u2019s license sometime prior to the beginning of the movie, he employs a schooled tough guy driver who, when confronted by potential danger, says things like \u201cboss, if you want me to get rid of this, I can.\u201d But \u201cboss-man\u201d Haller takes care of things himself\u2014he\u2019s a man of action. <\/p>\n

But he\u2019s also a guy who understands how the system works and respects its intricacies. Haller knows that when the justice system works, it does so because of the complexity involved and not in spite of it. Therefore, at every turn, he solves conflict with a carefully laid out set of rules. In fact, many of these rules have been codified by a legislative body and are freely available for anyone to read. Early in the film, Haller visits with a client in a jail cell. The client, some kind of biker drug dealer, tells him that he can\u2019t just resign from the case because the money has run out. But Haller well knows that that isn\u2019t exactly right and with some careful phraseology manipulates the all-knowing Judge and prosecutor gaining more time for his client to deliver a key witness in the case\u2014a Mr. Green.<\/p>\n

Lawyers thrive on referrals and when a bail bondsman (John Leguizamo) brings a high profile criminal case to Haller, the story heats up. The case involves the brutal attack allegedly by pretty boy Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) on a prostitute. After fetching a huge retainer, Haller and his team spring into action. Haller\u2019s private investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy) surreptitiously gets the police report and helps build the defense. The case is particularly concerning to Haller because he thinks that Louis might be innocent. Haller\u2019s used to representing guilty people, which, he explains, takes much of the pressure off.<\/p>\n

While not as significant as the Oscar nominated \u201cMichael Clayton,\u201d \u201cLincoln\u201d is an efficient and entertaining legal thriller. Part of this is the casting headed by super cool McConaughey who uses his cheesy disposition to maximum effect. Exuding hippness galore, he finds a role in Haller worthy of his confident swagger and smug cool. And it helps that McConaughey is backed up by an impressive supporting cast. Marisa Tomei is just right as Haller\u2019s ex-with-benefits with whom the two have a young daughter. Macy looks terrific as Haller\u2019s distinctive ex-hippie investigator. It is also fun to see 1980s tough guy star Michael Par\u00e9 playing a hulking police detective. Fans of \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d will be happy that Bryan Cranston gets in on the action playing another police detective, and the script is smart enough to differentiate between the two similarly aged officers giving the actors enough to craft distinct characters.<\/p>\n

But the main reason that \u201cThe Lincoln Lawyer\u201d is so entertaining is that everyone in the film seems to have stepped out of the pages of a classic detective story. While not quite as good as something drafted by the master Elmore Leonard (the best adaptations of which have been \u201cGet Shorty,\u201d \u201cOut of Sight,\u201d and Tarantino\u2019s \u201cJackie Brown\u201d), \u201cLincoln\u201d holds its own nicely with other norish tales. In fact, as the 1970s soundtrack kicks in and the credits roll, you might find yourself hoping for more Mick Haller stories. After all, there have to be, at least, 8000 stories on the naked court docket just waiting to be told. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally a movie that takes advantage of McConaughey\u2019s cheese and confident swagger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1209,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions\/1209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}