‘Lincoln Lawyer’ a sleazy, breezy tale

Michael Pena and Matthew McConaughey in "The Lincoln Lawyer" Jesus (Chicago actor Michael Pena), left, protests his innocence on a murder charge to attorney Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) in “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

If you think “The Lincoln Lawyer” refers to Abraham Lincoln, forget that.

Mick Haller hardly qualifies as an honest lawyer.

He’s shifty, manipulative, selfish, slick and oily.

The Lincoln he admires the most is the Continental his chauffeur drives while he rides in the back seat, working on dockets of nickel-chaser cases involving some of Los Angeles’ lowest-class denizens.

But when Haller becomes convinced that a massive injustice has been perpetrated — and that he has played an inadvertent role in it — some small spark of decency ignites and the attorney sets out to re-balance the scales of justice.

If “The Lincoln Lawyer” feels vaguely familiar, it should. We’ve seen many other courtroom dramas similar to it. Originality of plot isn’t its strong lawsuit.

Neither is the meat-and-potatoes direction by Brad “The Take” Furman, who treats this movie as a glorified made-for-cable project bolstered by an A-list cast and by gimmicky camera movements that inspire the use of Dramamine.

Furman’s drama comes from the best-selling book by former L.A. Times and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel crime reporter Michael Connelly, who got the idea for his mobile defense attorney after striking up a conversation with a real “Haller” during a baseball game. (Read more…)

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