The Client (1994)

Directed by: Joel Schumacher | 119 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, JT Walsh, Anthony Edwards, Brad Renfro, Will Patton, Bradley Whitford, Anthony Heald, Kim Coates, Kimberly Scott, David Speck, William H. Macy, Ossie Davis, Walter Olkewicz

Mark and his brother Ricky belong to the ‘white trash’ social class with their mother Dianne (Mary-Louise Parker). Dianne has to work hard to keep her head above water and Mark and Ricky often go their own way. When the brothers secretly smoke cigarettes in the woods near their trailer park, a car pulls up. A fat man gets out and prepares to commit suicide. Twice Mark unseen pulls the hose from the exhaust pipe that must cause suffocation through the window, but the third time the man grabs Mark and drags him into the car. He tells him why he is going to commit suicide and that Mark should die with him. Mark manages to escape, but cannot prevent the man from shooting himself.

Mark calls the police and from that moment on he only has to deal with people who want something from him, willingly, but especially unwillingly. His brother Ricky is so traumatized by the events that he no longer reacts to the outside world and has to be hospitalized. Mother Dianne has to stay with her son by the attending physician and as a result loses her poorly paid but indispensable job. The only one who seems genuinely interested in helping Mark and his family fight hitmen and dubious federal prosecutor Roy Foltrigg is attorney Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon), but when it turns out she’s had an alcohol problem, like Mark’s father, he decides Mark doesn’t know anything more about her.

‘The Client’ faithfully follows bestselling author John Grisham’s book of the same name, and just as the book is entertaining, so is the film. No psychological depth or other nonsense, just a twist from time to time or an unexpected move by one of the parties and you let yourself be carried away to the next exciting or funny moment. There are enough bad guys to make it interesting and also enough humor. The sensitive moments are not profound, so that there is no need to empathize too much with the souls of the characters. You are completely absorbed in the story for a moment and then forget it without any guilt.

This includes the acting. Tommy Lee Jones is very witty as the media-hungry, smooth-talking federal prosecutor who does everything to promote his political career as sensationally as possible, but even manages to give this unscrupulous subject something sympathetic. Susan Sarandon is fine as the life-defeating lawyer who goes through fire for her client, Brad Renfro is as good as the cheeky yet endearing Mark in physique and real-life acting, and Anthony LaPaglia is as ‘Barry The Blade’. verging on kitsch with his clothes, haircut and silly mannerisms. Nice movie.