THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290067
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRENT A. BOWLES, TEENOLOGY MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
JOHN GRISHAM, Southern lawyer turned author, pens legal suspense thrillers that practically write themselves onto the big screen. ``The Firm'' and ``The Pelican Brief'' have been launched, and audiences just can't get enough of Grisham's juicy yarns of deceit, treachery and murder.
``The Client'' delivers exactly what fans of the book are waving around their $5 for: a good movie.
Just as Grisham's other novels place a lone hero against immeasurable odds, be it the Mafia or the government, ``The Client'' is the story of Mark Sway, an 11-year-old spitfire who witnesses the suicide of a Mafia lawyer.
Mark hears the Mafia lawyer's confession, including the location of a New Orleans senator's body needed to convict bad guy Barry ``The Blade.'' The mob wants to silence him, and an unscrupulous U.S. attorney wants him to speak. Mark turns to bitter lawyer Reggie Love to protect his rights.
Susan Sarandon plays Reggie, the hip 40-something lawyer and Led Zepplin fan. Reggie is not quite the brassy female presence one might expect, but she manages to roll with the punches and, at the same time, heal her own wounds.
Mark Sway is played by newcomer Brad Renfro, whose Memphis accent practically hangs off his lower lip. Renfro has some promise as an actor but never quite pulls us into Mark's plight, and hence, some of the character's effect is lost.
Bible-quoting District Attorney J. Roy Foltrigg is played by the always-impressive Tommy Lee Jones, one of the best actors around. Jones always manages to come up with new ways to pull off the same old straight-laced wisecracks. With an upcoming part in Oliver Stone's ``Natural Born Killers,'' Tommy Lee's on a roll this summer.
Behind all this is a splendid performance by Mary-Louise Parker as Mark's mother. Ossie Davis drops in briefly as a fatherly judge, and Anthony LaPaglia plays Barry ``The Blade,'' a villain who is much too flamboyant to be frightening.
Director Joel Schumacher treats Grisham's novel more as a character study than a legal suspense thriller and stays truer to the book than a page-by-page adaptation.
There are a few alterations, however. The character of Reggie Love is explored more than any other, and it's easier to empathize with her than the young boy. Jones' character is greatly expanded in the movie and squeezes the Mafia's large part into a sideshow to Foltrigg's bantering.
Schumacher has textured this $45 million film wonderfully, capturing the flavorful Southern atmosphere. Each of the characters is practically dripping in Tennessee ambience and Cajun grease. The film is beautifully photographed and superbly edited.
If there is a weakness, it is that the ``The Client'' never really delivers a great deal of suspense in 120 minutes, but it's so easy to get wrapped up in the great characters that no one seems to notice. ILLUSTRATION: Warner Brothers Photo
Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones star in ``The Client,'' which is
based on John Grisham's book.
by CNB