Power of Attorney

Danny Aiello stars as a mob boss, Joseph Scassi, who hires an ex-assistant DA (Elias Koteas) to defend him in Power of Attorney.

Vancouver doubles for New York City here, and it's pretty obvious. Koteas is an ambitious attorney who knows if he can get Aiello off, it will help his career and finances. As a prosecutor he tried for years to put Aiello away. So he has to walk a very thin line and, in a sense, sell out.

I might have dozed off during this so a couple of things were confusing, particularly Koteas' relationship with two women. There's a big sex scene with Rae Dawn Chong.

Unfortunately, his brother is somewhat mixed up with the thugs, which leads to problems.

Watching this, I was reminded of my late friend who hated Danny Aiello. I asked him what Aiello's claim to fame was, and he answered, constant employment.

To me this was ordinary and melodramatic.

Caught this movie on TV the other day and I honestly don't think I've ever seen anything worse. Worse than Hudson Hawk, worse than Billy Jack, worse than than any other movie you can name. It really has to be seen to be believed. The lead actor should be thrown in jail for his performance in this movie and Danny Aiello's acting is sub-par even by his standards. The plot's so stupid it's hardly worth a laugh and the dialogue couldn't have been written by someone with more than a fifth grade education. The music is so cheesy you'll catch yourself wondering if the movie's supposed to be funny and you've completely missed the joke. I usually enjoy horrible movies, but Power of Attorney is so bad it tried even my patience, and that's saying something. I defy anyone who's had the displeasure of watching Power of Attorney all the way through to name worse movie.

Being a fan of Elias Koteas, I happened along this little gem of a movie. It's one of the only times I can remember seeing him as a leading man, usually he plays off-beat quirky roles a la "Exotica" and "Crash". All in all, he is very convincing as an ambitious lawyer, who succumbs not only to money but to pride as well. The story starts off slowly but before you know it, it sucks you into it's Machiavellian plot. The film's style is naturalistic and you almost feel like you are in the same room as the characters. Danny Aiello, who usually plays blustery, larger than life characters, gives a wonderfully nuanced performance of a John Gotti type character. It would have been very easy for him to turn this stereotypcal don into a Godfather cliche, but instead, the director chose for him to play down the part. Although the production value could have been better(the music sucks and doubling Vancouver for New York was a poor choice) I feel that this intelligent courtroom drama is worth checking out.