Review of The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) by Aaron A — 19 Dec 2011

"You know what? You would've done all right on the streets.".

Synopsis: Tasked with defending rich lothario Louis Roulet, who's been charged with assault, lawyer Mick Haller finds himself and his family in danger when he deduces the truth behind this and former cases he's worked on.

The Lincoln Lawyer is a bit of a mixed bag. The picture has much to offer, but just about everything it does offer has a negative aspect or other shortcoming. .

The Lincoln Lawyer's best attribute is a richly dense plot, one with many intricasies, twists, and complex relationships.  It's a story that's just about always throwing something new at it's viewers to keep them on their toes, and such designs pack the picture with loads of entertainment value.  The problem wih such complexities here is the storytelling is sloppy, major characters sometimes feel like  interchangable plotline parts and supporting characters are hastly introduced.  It doesn't help that the actuall narrative is cliche'd and lacking in any meaningful statements, it's strickly for entertainment.

Then theres the film's major selling point, Matthew McConaughey.  Having mostly been acting in material far from my interests lately, my respect for McConaughey was at all time lows heading into a viewing of The Lincoln Lawyer.  I'm glad to say that his performance here is quite impressive.  Impressive as long as his character is in destress, becuase when his character is on safe ground McConaughey resorts to a unwatchably horrible swaggershow and annoying grins. In short, as long as McConaughey sticks to the dramatic, it works. .

Though the film possesses sloppy storytelling and a clich'ed unimpressive narrative, The Lincoln Lawyer's complexities infuse it with loads of entertainment value and Matthew McConaughey's flawed but impressive performance make this picture worthwhile.