The Client

Starring: Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones

The most satisfying of the three Grisham bildungsromans brought to the big screen (of course, I hated the other two), principally because of the quality of the two leads. They play off each other well, and their rivalry is actually far more engaging than the fairly standard good guy-bad guy skullduggery that constitutes the plot. Schumacher's direction is clean and lively. The young kid is a find--very genuine, and the notion of his being in jeopardy does drive the film. Not a LOT of drive, mind you, but more than that produced by the so-called threats to, say, Tom Cruise's preening yuppie in “The Firm.” (8/3/94)