Ever since I saw him in courtroom drama A Time To Kill, I immediately thought Matthew McConaughey was a genuine, 100% movie star. For better or for worse the guy has that Tom Cruise thing going on; the grin, the charm, the cockiness along with a certain measure of intelligence. And even though he's received a lot of stick over the years for his awfulness (thanks Family Guy) due to his popularity in humdrum romcoms, he's always been immensely watchable. His latest, The Lincoln Lawyer is the first legitimately strong work McConaughey has starred in for years. Another court room thriller, it pits the Shirtless One (as a sleazy, morally dubious defence lawyer) against a client that's out to beat the justice system.
It's a great character piece for all involved...and all involved are excellent from Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillipe, William H Macy, Michael Pena, Josh Lucas, Bob Gunton, John Leguizamo and Bryan Cranston. The script is lean, gritty and tight as a tiger, the courtroom brinkmanship taut and exciting and it's a pleasure watching a movie star at the top of his charismatic game in material that can showcase his talent once again.
Once the central twist is revealed relatively early on the question isn't whether Matt is going to win or lose the case (we kind of want him to do both) but how he's going to navigate himself out of the deep moral quandary he finds himself in. A great drama and thriller and a welcome return to a genre that died out with the Grisham thrillers of the nineties.
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