The Client (Keep Case Packaging)

THE CLIENT
A sterling cast headed by Oscar - nominated Susan Sarandon makes this slick thriller the adaptation of a John Grisham bestseller. Mark Sway (Brad Renfro) witnesses the suicide of a Mafia lawyer, who confesses that the mob was behind the murder of a U.S. senator. Mark's brother is traumatized into a coma by the incident; gangster Barry Muldano (Anthony LaPaglia) is soon on Mark's trail, and in desperation, he arrives at the office of recovering alcoholic lawyer Reggie Love (Sarandon). With the mob after them, and a ruthless federal attorney Roy Foltrig (Tommy Lee Jones) trying to force Mark to reveal what he knows, Love battles to guarantee the safety of her client and his family. The relationship between Reggie Love and Mark Sway is the center of the film, adding considerable character development to plot's routine elements. Director Joel Schumacher helmed another Grisham adaptation, A Time To Kill, in 1996.

Reggie to the Rescue.
You gotta hand it to John Grisham: Nobody has the various lawyer cliches down pat as well as him - in fact, it almost seems as if he invented or at least, reinvented many of them. As in most of his thrillers, we get a whole handful in "The Client": the slimy mafia lawyer, the power-hungry politician-to-be, the self-aggrandizing ambulance-chaser, the grandfatherly judge and, of course, the motherly family law practitioner who turned to legal practice after overcoming a few troubles of her own. I think that leaves only the greedy corporate attorney, his cousin the corrupt judge and their perpetual antagonists, the starving public interest lawyer and the inquisitive student prodigy unrepresented here; but still, not a bad collection for a single thriller, even by Grisham. (And that doesn't even include the count of dumb and/or malicious cops, slick tabloid journalists and ruthless mobsters running around in this story.) But never mind: "The Client" is one of John Grisham's...

Excellent Movie From a Terrible Book
"The Client" is a movie that profiled the American Justice system drenched with beaurocracy, and the particular story of a young child and his family caught up in it. An 11 year old backwoods punk kid named Mark Sway (Newly introduced Brad Renfro), is a witness to the suicide of a lawyer involved in a high profile Mafia case. Being the only witness, he is now pressured by the US Attorney's office to talk...and by the Mob not to. US Attorney Roy Fortrigg is played flawlessly as always by award winning actor Tommy Lee Jones, who battles Mark's dedicated lawyer (Susan Sarandon) to make the boy tell all and vault himself to Governor of Louisianna. If I was making this movie, I would think that it would fall apart on the child's role...but it didnt. Brad Renfro was as good as they come, playing a stubborn punk kid who refused to be intimidated by Fortrigg, and tried not to let the Mob get to him either. Another stellar performance was played by Kim Coates, one of the big Mob...

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