Review of The Client (1994) by Teena D — 04 Mar 2011

Joel Schumacher's THE CLIENT is a powerful legal thriller that showcases just how far some are willing to go to protect the ones that they love.

THE CLIENT is the story of Mark Sway (Brad Renfro in his first role), a boy who, along with his younger brother, witness, and try to stop, the suicide of a mob lawyer. From there, Mark is put at the center of a legal storm as hot shot attorney Roy Foltrigg (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to dig out the truth regardless of the cost. Sway turns to lawyer Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon, in a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination) for help.

The film features all the right ingredients that make a great legal thriller. Although technically light on actual court room drama, THE CLIENT manages to squeeze every last ounce of excitement it can out of each meeting, each interrogation, and each showdown between Surandon's Love and Jones' Foltrigg as they try to get Mark to tell them what actually happened. The performances are powerful, with Sarandon certainly earning her Academy Award nomination and Tommy Lee Jones bringing his usual expertise of the craft to the table, portraying "Reverend" Roy Foltrigg as both someone that you can't really warm up to over the course of the film, but also as someone who you understand why he is the way that he is, and he commands your respect for it because, at the end of the day, the work that he does is noble work. Brad Renfro is also excellent in his debut role.

THE CLIENT is one in a long string of John Grisham film adaptations, but as far as those adaptations go, this is one of the best. The acting is top-notch, with a cast that features countless big-name actors all doing fantastic work. It's a shame that they don't make legal thrillers like this anymore.