Review of The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) by Stuart K — 30 Apr 2014

Based upon the 2005 novel by Michael Connelly, which was the first in a series of novels about defense attorney Mickey Haller. This adaptation was written by John Romano (Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and Nights in Rodanthe (2008)) and directed by Brad Furman (Runner Runner (2013)), this is a good legal thriller which has some good twists and turns and some good performances.

Defense lawyer Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) operates most of his business out of the back of his black Lincoln Town Car, and he usually defends criminals in and around Los Angeles. However, he gets the opportunity to defend Beverly Hills playboy Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), who has been accused of beating up prostitute Regina Campo (Margarita Levieva).

Haller and his private investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy) sum up the evidence, and discover the beating bears a similarity to a previous case of Haller's where he defended Jesus Martinez (Michael Peña), who was locked up for murder.

Things aren't what they seem. This is a good character piece, with McConaughey giving a brilliant performance as the lawyer, and the film is buoyed by a good plot, which may not be new, but it has some similarities in structure to Hitchcock's I Confess (1953), where an uncomfortable truth is told, but our protagonist can't tell it to anyone.