Description:
The best film satires are not necessarily to be found in the theaters, where only independent filmmakers have the courage to risk alienating the ticket-buying audience. Cable TV has proven to be fertile ground for many a sharp-tongued script and Legalese is as smart and acerbic as they come. James Garner is deliciously conniving as a high-profile criminal lawyer who secretly presides over a high-profile murder trial like he's the Wizard of Oz, whispering directions into the ear of his fresh-faced assistant (Edward Kerr) while monitoring the surrounding media circus from his multimedia eye-in-the-sky office. Gina Gershon is the
The best film satires are not necessarily to be found in the theaters, where only independent filmmakers have the courage to risk alienating the ticket-buying audience. Cable TV has proven to be fertile ground for many a sharp-tongued script and Legalese is as smart and acerbic as they come. James Garner is deliciously conniving as a high-profile criminal lawyer who secretly presides over a high-profile murder trial like he's the Wizard of Oz, whispering directions into the ear of his fresh-faced assistant (Edward Kerr) while monitoring the surrounding media circus from his multimedia eye-in-the-sky office. Gina Gershon is the Hollywood starlet and Apple industry poster girl whose scandalous murder charge sends the tabloid media (led by the predatory talk-show titan Kathleen Turner) into a headline frenzy ("Rotten to the Core" proclaims one muckraking TV show). Mary-Louise Parker is at her best as Garner's ambitious assistant, a savvy, sexy, self-assured junior partner developing her feral instincts when Kerr awakens her slumbering idealism. The sharp, cutting screenplay skewers their relationship with tawdry media sensationalism and camera-hogging legal tactics, but loses the conviction of its cynicism in a satisfying if too cozy happy ending. Until then, it's a nasty little poisoned pastry of a film, served up thick and juicy and oh-so tart. --Sean Axmaker
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Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
Release date: 15 February 2005
EAN: 9780780649910 UPC: 794043770029
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