The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

 
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Spoiler Free
Crime/ Drama/ Mystery
Rated 15
Included with Amazon Prime

Mondays. Ugh. All you have to look forward to on Monday is Tuesday and they always suck except for the small bonus that they’re slightly nearer to Friday night. It was a Monday and I wasn’t going to review The Lincoln Lawyer. I was too tired and work had been horrible and I wanted delicious food, lovely wine and to switch off to Matt McConaughey’s Southern allure. Gosh darn it, the bastard’s magnetic, mischievous, maverick charm done pulled me in, very quickly. I whipped out my pad and started furiously writing.


The Lincoln Lawyer has a great cast, which you can see in detail if you click the hyperlink at the top of this review to go to its IMDb page. I never know if anyone actually enjoys or even knows I add that, but I do it anyway because I love you.


Director Brad Furman I had never heard of, but a look at his IMDb tells me he once made a Justin Bieber film. If I’d known this it may have prevented me watching The Lincoln Lawyer, because anyone who can tolerate more than 3 minutes of Bieber is clearly suffering from some sort of deep psychological disorder where they’re perpetually a tweenager listening to Love Yourself on repeat. Love Yourself is the only three minutes of Bieber you ever need to hear, on repeat. Forever. Oh man I just love Justin Bieber.

McConaughey’s dodgy lawyer Mick Haller’s pitter-patter is devious, he's witty and oh so greedy. Early on he’s called a “fucking asshole”, which is entirely correct. Straight away he's endearing in that way. Mick’s ex is also a lawyer. He’s defence, but she’s attack, or offence or prosecution or whatever its called in America. It’s a tale as old as courtroom dramas as the two battle over Ryan Phillippe’s character Louis’s innocence or guilt.

Louis is loaded, accused of a nasty battery of a woman (as opposed to the nice kind which doesn’t exist) and also a prick, which never helps. Hey ho, Haller’s here to help. Or is he, as Mick’s misdirections snap at his heels?


In the same week as watching The Lincoln Lawyer for the first time I also put on Primal Fear for what I think was the first time, but it was made 25 years ago and I’m feeling old. The two have incredibly similar plots. While Primal Fear is more serious and has a standout performance from Ed Norton, which surely is why he was cast in American History X, it suffers from not having The Lincoln Lawyer’s joie de vivre.


The Lincoln Lawyer’s direction is appropriately smooth and slick, as confident as its protagonist. Like any good thriller or mystery the film isn’t all as it seems. Lulling, leading you every which way but always entertaining (well, me anyway) while doing so. It’s not bombastic, although McConaughey’s bon vivant Mick weirdly tethers the story amusingly. He might be a fucking asshole, but I loved him.

Bedsit it?


Well made and very engaging, the Lincoln Lawyer is a lot of fun and a film that, like a good boxer, never leaves you sure footed, always guessing but not knowing what’s coming next. Popcorn cinema. 8/10

Big Macs! Try these reviews!..

THE GENTLEMEN

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

BIRDS OF PREY

BRAVEHEART (sorry but there's one in there for sure)

OUTLAW KING (and in here)

RED ROAD (there's not one in here explicitly but come on, we all know there probably is)

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