The Client
1994  PG-13  DRAMA  1h 59min
CAST— Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, Anthony Edwards, Ossie Davis
MUSIC— Howard Shore  DIRECTOR— Joel Schumacher  BASED ON— The Client (novel), by John Grisham

     Legal counsel caters to all comers… even bratty eleven year-olds. A Southern lawyer is feeling pressure from the mob so he decides to take his own life… but not before inexplicably spilling his guts to a random kid (Brad Renfro) in the woods. Renfro is then wanted for questioning by the FBI, reporters, lawyers, etc. But the mob is also after him. He hires a sympathetic lawyer who sees how deep the kid is in. She then makes it her mission to guide and protect the boy not only from the bad guys but also from an unscrupulous Tommy Lee Jones, an opportunistic federal attorney with political aspirations. This entails bending, even breaking the law in order to remain one step ahead of everyone else. All credibility gets thrown out with the trash in this slight legal thriller that features a hero in an unlikable child, and a villain in the under-utilized Jones. Take it or leave it. Later developed into a television series.
OUR RATING— ** ½