Synopsis:
Mickey Haller is a defence attorney operating in Los Angeles, out of the back of his Lincoln. Most of his clients are guilty drug dealers and gangsters but Haller uses the cracks in the system to save them from jail time. Louis Roulet is a wealthy prominent realtor who has requested Haller to represent him following his arrest for rape and assault. What first appears to be a straightforward case will challenge Haller’s ethics as events unfold.
To say this is Matthew McConaughey’s career best performance would be somewhat of an understatement. We saw glimpses of some potential in his early career with A Time To Kill, but the more recent affairs like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Fool’s Gold, Failure To Launch and How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days to name just a few, by no means suggested he had a performance like this in his locker. And as much of a surprise package is the film itself. It is a well-plotted, well-scripted thriller come courtroom drama with several twists along the way. That the twists are not unpredictable doesn’t harm the film too much as the story doesn’t hinge on the twists in the same way as films such as Shutter Island or Sixth Sense do.
The film is based on a book by Michael Connelly who is a former police reporter for the L.A. Times so the insights into the nuances of the criminal justice system and how it works should be no surprise. What is a nice surprise is the underlying theme of redemption. Haller goes from being someone who exploits the system, defending the indefensible (‘How do you sleep at night’) to recognizing the value of the truth, that it actually matters - and not in a cheesy, clichéd way as has been done many times before - but still leaving a not totally reformed character.
If there is a criticism with the Lincoln Lawyer, it’s that there is a general feeling it’s trying a bit too hard to be cool when in actual fact it doesn’t need to.
