The Client (1994)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The late Brad Renfro, , was such a talented young actor, who seemed much older than his years. A boy amongst adults in this John Grisham novel turned big screen movie, leading a cast of big names. A decent storyline of streetwise kid v's the mafia makes for a memorable film.

Pressured by an ambitious district attorney after witnessing the suicide of a mob lawyer, a bratty adolescent seeks legal advise from a lawyer who lost custody of her children during her divorce in this legal thriller based on a novel by John Grisham. Susan Sarandon won the BAFTA Best Actress award for the film and received an Oscar nomination for her turn as the divorced lawyer. It is a better performance then one might expect as she does a great job quoting the law when facing up to the DA and fighting all legal avenues available when trying to get the boy out of having to take the stand in court; it is not all maternal instincts, though these do factor into play too. With this in mind, the film grows far too sentimental for its own good in its final few scenes. Brad Renfro's performance as the boy works also against the film; he is so insolent and rude that he is nearly impossible to warm to. The film's most grating performance though comes from Anthony LaPaglia as the rather brainless mafia goon out to get Renfro. The film is admittedly encapsulating though in the scenes where Renfro and LaPaglia manage to keep their mouths shut. There are lots of thrills and chills throughout, whether it be Renfro noticing the mafia tattoo on the hand of a seemingly kind stranger, or Renfro given a scare in a darkened elevator. Tommy Lee Jones also does what he can with his publicity-loving DA character.

first off I want to say even for all the plot holes in this movie it is still an OK movie to watch. But I just could not find it as enjoyable as I could when the kid you have to root for is a snot nosed little brat you want to smack the crap out of yourself. Saying that though even for when this movie was made the outstanding mistakes made by the legal part of this movie is beyond me. First off you have a cop intimidating a child witness which makes no sense, second when Mark was first brought in to talk to the lawyers they never would have anyway interviewed him without his mother because any defense lawyer would then tear apart the kids statement as soon as he took the stand and have all evidence thrown out of court, thirdly this is all based on what the lawyer might have told the kid which considering there is no proof they could ever possibly know what was actually talked about in the car all, all mark had to say was the guy just talked about wanting to die and the FBI could never prove otherwise and everything would once again be thrown out, fourth and finally even if Mark admitted that the lawyer told him something the FBI couldn't do anything with it because it is hearsay and also it broke client confidentiality as soon as the lawyer told Mark so it in no way could have been used as evidence and any evidence gotten from it would become invalid and not usable in a court of law. Also at one point in the movie the FBI hears on a wire tap the guy they want pretty much admitting to the crime and to wanting to whack the kid which is more than enough evidence they need to arrest him. OK movie but just full of to many plot holes to make any real sense.

Based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham, 'The Client', directed by Joel Schumacher, in an interesting thriller, that also packs in memorable performances by it's lead-cast.'The Client' tells the story of a eleven-year old boy, who, witnesses the suicide of a lawyer whose client is in the mob, and a female attorney, who, tries to protect him. Joel Schumacher's body of work is a mixed bag. However, 'The Client', can surely rank amongst his better works. He has handled a couple of sequences with ease. However, I would like to state, that, the writing loses pace in it's final 30-minutes. And thus, the desired impact gets distracted. If it had been better or should I say more crisper, this flick would've been a classic affair! Tony Pierce-Roberts's Cinematography is good. Editing is fine.Performance-Wise: As told before, the lead casts pack in memorable performances. Susan Sarandon is excellent as the female lawyer. Brad Renfro does a sincere job. Tommy Lee Jones is superb as the calculative U.S. Attorney. Mary-Louise Parker is good. J. T. Walsh is effective.On the whole, 'The Cilent' is A Good Film in all respects. Definitely worth a watch!