Inocente

Bill Pullman is Judge Sabich. he has a past, and when one of his own law clerks takes another job, things get complicated. they think they got away with it, but there were witnesses.... lots of them. and lots of people lying to other people. trials. some cheesy acting as the prosecutor's team tries to prove that the judge knocked off the wife. these are all bad people. It's pretty good, for what it is, apparently a TV movie. Written and directed by Mike Robe. not a lot about him out there. this shows on the Epix channel. not a lot of votes or reviews for this one on imdb.

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.

This is an efficient movie with some neat twists and turns in the solving of a crime. It is largely inoffensive because it is constructed to the well worn formula of finger pointing to a murderer and then seeing just how many things can change your mind before the credits roll.

The acting is reasonable but not sensational with the victim, Barbara (Marcia Gay Harden), being the best at everything in the back story played out throughout the film. Nothing sticks out as faulty, but it is not especially memorable either.

If you like courtrooms and enjoy trying to work crimes out then it is worth a rental.

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.

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-