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Ah, the courtroom drama. Snore. Everything about them is bland. The characters, the dialogue,
the confrontations and the resolutions. With the exception of “A Few Good Men,” I can’t think of
one courtroom drama that I actually liked. Movies that try to force us to believe that lawyers can be
heroes make me laugh…bitterly. There is nothing entertaining or escapist about a courtroom
drama and all they usually portray is the sad truth about how America deals with it’s problems; that
is, by suing, which by the way is an act that can only be described in the immortal words of the
average pseudo-sober cowpoke of the 1870s: “Yella.”

I recently had a real life run in with one of these judicial jackanapes and he had to have been the
single biggest fecal wad I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. Homebro thought he was
God’s gift to the world and even sported a custom t-shirt with his office’s website address and the
phrase “Everyday Warrior” printed on it. I have too many friends who are soldiers, marines and
fighter pilots to ever let this chowder-head convince me he’s a warrior. So here’s some friendly
advice, Man with the I.Q. of a Log (that would be his Indian name if he were cool enough to have
Indian friends), buy some pants that fit, the over inflated crotch bulge went out of style with Henry
VIII, and people were laughing at him behind his back even then. Everyday warrior! Ha!

So anyway, I’m not a giant fan of the courtroom drama or the courtroom anything for that matter.
So seeing this flick was anything but my idea of a good time, but it sported Gene Hackman so I
figured it might be worth a look. Not so much.

Hackman plays Jeb Ward, an attorney who specializes in whistle-blower cases where he sides with
the underdog. He goes up against a mega automotive company after they knowingly produced a
death trap product, covered up the evidence and put it on the market anyway. And who must
Hackman face off against in this not so thrilling case? His estranged daughter of course, a shooting
star defense attorney about to make partner despite being a woman and played by Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio. Excited? Me neither.

This movie is slow, choppy and forcefully sentimental. Mastrantonio’s hatred of her father is
overplayed and practically inexplicable. She’s mad at him for not being an overly moral man, all the
time forgetting that he’s a) a lawyer b) she isn’t exactly innocent as she is sleeping with her boss to
make partner and c) he spends his life crusading against the oppressed in his own, slightly smarmy
lawyer-like way. I dunno. I just wasn’t down.

I will say it’s a good thing this film had the actors it did, otherwise it could have been downright
unwatchable. Hackman and pre-"Matrix" Lawrence Fishburne as his colleague are the only things
driving this thing throughout most of the story. Mastrantonio’s character is so whiny, depressed,
misguided and bitter that she drags the whole movie down with her. It’s got to be one of the most
average films I have ever seen, made all the worse by the fact that Hackman doesn’t shoot a single
person in this movie. If you want Hackman and a courtroom, let me recommend “Runaway Jury”
instead. He’s way more hardcore and as far as I know, childless.