‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ – McConaughey defends his client and crumbling legacy

Welcome back, Matthew McConaughey.

The actor once considered the Next Big Thing after “A Time to Kill” has devolved into Most Likely to Go Shirtless During a Lame Rom-Com. But “The Lincoln Lawyer” lets McConaughey reboots his screen persona with a vengeance.

It’s an unapologetic slick crowd pleaser with manipulative moments in and out of the courtroom. But McConaughey sells it all, especially the notion that he’s still a leading man of note.

McConaughey plays Mick Haller, an L.A. lawyer who does the bulk of his business out of his shiny black Lincoln. He never met a guilty soul he wouldn’t defend to the death, assuming the client can pick up the tab.

He thinks he’s struck it richer when he takes on the case of an affluent young man named Louis (Ryan Phillippe) accused of battery. Louis says he’s innocent, but his defense isn’t as streamlined as Mick expected. And the stakes grow bigger than merely guilt or innocence, pushing Mick beyond his comfort zone into a life and death struggle.

Mick’s every movement bespeaks confidence and conviction, and he doesn’t lose a wink of sleep when he sets a guilty man free based on a technicality. That’s the prosecution’s fault he says. And he believes it.

The first time McConaughey enters the frame the movie is his to lose. Few actors can make a snake like Mick so engaging, and McConaughey never shies from the character’s murky soul. Nor does the movie itself. The final sequence even tees up the kind of “awww” moment most films would lunge for, but “Lawyer” doesn’t take the bait.

The screenplay does suffer some structural defects including a hackneyed final confrontation which only makes sense if you ignore the previous 145 minutes. And while William H. Macy thrives playing Mick’s investigator chum, another high profile actor gets stranded by the film’s locomotive plot. Marisa Tomei plays Mick’s ex-wife, and she’s shackled by a poorly illuminated role that should have given Mick the romantic foil he deserves.

Director Brad Furman (“The Take”) slips in a sneaky sense of style between the highly polished set pieces, from a funky opening credit sequence to an atypical soul-driven soundtrack.

“The Lincoln Lawyer” is slick but richly entertaining, a beautiful marriage between the right actor and material.

(Photo: Matthew McConaughey stars as Mick Haller, a slick attorney who must use all of his skills when he takes on the case of a “The Lincoln Lawyer.” Photo credit: Saeed Adyani)

Related posts:

1. ‘Country Strong’ – Hedlund’s ‘Legacy’ begins in Nashville, not the Grid
2. ‘Tron: Legacy’ – 28 years later, grid glory finally achieved
3. Blu-ray review: ‘The Extra Man’
4. ‘Ghosts of Girlfriends Past’ – Dickens haunts rom-com