Innocent

This made-for-TV version of the Scott Turow novel is a competently made but not particularly inspiring translation to the small screen. With Bill Pullman and Alfred Molina in two of the leading roles, the acting is fine, but for some reason there seem to be a lot of English-as-a-second-language characters. Molina and the woman who portrays the judge play them with accents.

One of the issues of courtroom dramas on screen is that they take place in a small space and there isn't much real movement going on. Typically, this is covered by an active camera, and that happens here, with short editing cuts and a camera that moves. Injudiciously applied, it becomes frantic, even hysterical, and that happens occasionally here.

Even so, the central story is a solid one. If you have any taste for this genre, it's a couple of hours well spent.

Judge Rusty Sabich (Bill Pullman) is found with his dead wife Barbara (Marcia Gay Harden) in their bed. He didn't report it for 24 hours and suspicion mounts against him. D.A. Tommy Molto (Richard Schiff) reluctantly allows Jimmy Brand to investigated despite the possibility of another humiliation from a Rusty case. A year earlier is his 60th birthday. There is tension below the surface of his perfect job, their perfect marriage, and perfect family. His clerk Anna Vostick provokes accusation of infidelity. There is a good reason for the accusation and a previous affair led to a big media trial.

This movie needs to be Molto's movie. The audience needs to know only what Molto knows. The audience needs to learn what Molto learns. The computer thing needs to be more clearly explained. I get the explanation but it needs to be physically shown. I'm not a Scott Turow reader. I'm not sure how he attacks the story but I'd definitely make Molto the protagonist. This is messy and the Sabich family is not appealing. The most compelling section is the D.A. group come up with Barbara's revenge premise.

After reading other reviews, I questioned if I should give it a shot. I'm glad I did. I wasn't blasted back in my seat... but I did enjoy it.

This is uninspiring legal drama and the kind of film where the behavior of the characters only adds up in the sense that it serves the script, not in a way that resembles real life. It feels like a rushed job with rather crude characterization, while Bill Pullman looks bored and some of the actors like lost in translation (especially T. Penikett, C.L. Haggquist, N. Oliver). You will like it only if you are close to the age of 60 or above. "Old" ideas, "old" execution and VHS type of movie.

Rating: 5+/6-

I know this writer's novels and was looking forward to a layered, carefully constructed legal drama. Instead, I got the highlights of a decent plot and characters, yet with all the nuance scooped out.

In addition, the cast is filled with dependable veterans who've never failed me, but here they have little to work with as they're moved around scenes like a collection of cardboard cutouts.

Given the writer and cast all have solid histories of success, I'm not going to lay this at their feet. One or two could have a bad project, but not all.

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I'm thinking the issue, instead, is editing and directing. Scenes are chopped and smashed together, relationships aren't given time to evolve.

The dialogue just feels flat as though done without the support to get it right. Were they not given time for a second take? Did they do a dozen and wear the material out? Not sure, but what should have been an enjoyable movie just feels middling.

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I'm not saying to avoid the film, but I am saying lower expectations going in. This feels like what used to be called a "tv movie." It's a pity, really, since it had the potential to be so much more.

Still, on a rainy afternoon, it is "enough."