Review of Michael Clayton (2007) by Bill — 20 Oct 2007

I'm a big Soderbergh/Clooney fan and so was looking forward to this one. While you're in the theater it's fun. But afterwards it feels like a bit of candy. The script is fundamentally ludicrous.

It's based on Clayton's money troubles, lack of status as an equity partner in the firm, and on the premise that suddenly after doing this work for 10-15 years he realizes the firm may handle unsavory cases.

Such a successful "fixer" such as Clayton would never be a desperate man on the verge of getting hung out to dry. He would be a full equity partner of this law firm; otherwise he could take his Rolodex and go elsewhere to the highest bidder.

And, by the way, spill the beans on where the bodies are buried because his job is disposing of all the unsavory messes into which the firm gets itself. So the crux of the plot is ridiculous. However, the acting is fantastic.

Tilda Swinton is marvelous as a cyborg chief corporate counsel completely divorced form humanity; Tom Wilkinson has a fun turn as a brilliant bi-polar litigator. And Clooney once again plays the cool, haunted man who realizes his best days are behind him and he has little to show for it.

(A similar character as the one he played in "Out Of Sight.") Except that he holds all the cards in reality, contrary to what the script attempts to sell us. Ultimately this is an ephemeral confection of a film.