Le client

Original title: The Client

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

80K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

172

Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, and Brad Renfro in Le client (1994)

Play trailer1:57

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Legal Thriller Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

A young boy who witnessed the suicide of a mafia lawyer hires an attorney to protect him when the District Attorney tries to use him to take down a mob family.A young boy who witnessed the suicide of a mafia lawyer hires an attorney to protect him when the District Attorney tries to use him to take down a mob family.A young boy who witnessed the suicide of a mafia lawyer hires an attorney to protect him when the District Attorney tries to use him to take down a mob family.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

80K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

172

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 3 wins & 4 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 1:57

The Client

Photos113

+ 106

User reviews153

6.779.5K

Featured reviews

goleafs84

Another Great Grisham Book Turned Into A Movie

Back in 1994, I read this book and just like other John Grisham's novels, with the exception of "The Pelican Brief", once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.

Director Joel Schumacher and Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman did an excellent job keeping the movie within the storyline without doing a horrible "hatchet job" most do to novels.

In addition, there was an excellent flow to the movie. It kept moving along; There wasn't very many slow moments in it and it kept me on the edge of my seat.

The casting was great as well. I liked Susan Sarandon as Reggie Love, Brad Renfro as Mark Sway, Tommy Lee Jones was a perfect fit as the "Revered" Roy Foltrigg. Will Patton as Sergent Hardy, was an excellent sleezy and conniving officer.

When I saw Anthony LaPaglia as Barry "The Blade" Muldano, I didn't envision the greasy sleezeball he portrayed, but someone more tougher or perhaps more thuggish. But Anthony LaPaglia fit just fine.

This is a movie worth renting.

a1_andy_11

Great cast, poor plot

The premise of The Client is great. The first act sets the scene for a really tense and interesting flick. Things go downhill steadily all the way through to the final act. The film has a great cast. Susan Sarandon is excellent as is Tommy Lee Jones. It's the plot and pacing that lets it down.

We go from a believable difficult situation into more farce as with each passing minute. The thing is it happens pretty slowly so it's at about the 2/3rd point that the wheels start to come off.

Pity as the cast are brilliant.

Silverzero

Compelling, engrossing and well acted thriller.

"The Client" is an enjoyable and well executed thriller overall. While the directing, script and overall product are far from amazing and sometimes quite bland, the Oscar level performances compensate for the easily over-seeable flaws.

Perhaps the child of the title, Brad Renfro, can be annoying in parts he gives a decent enough performance nonetheless. Too bad about the drinks and drugs problem he has today. Susan Sarandon gives another terrific performance, this time as an alcoholic lawyer. Tommy Lee Jones' character doesn't have much to do with the plot but he's a welcome addition to the film, even though.

While it is easy to find fault with the film it's easier to just sit back and enjoy it. I chose the latter so I thought it was a good, if not spectacular movie overall. 6.8/10.

7Agent10

Dark and gripping

Susan Sarandon should stick with the tough minded lawyer more often. Perfectly cast in the role of Reggie Love, she brings a certain charm to a role which could have lacked in that department. And to make matters even tougher on her, she was almost outshined by Brad Renfro, who made quite an impression in a film such as this. While the film was put together in a rather conventional way, with Tommy Lee Jones playing an over clichéd character, the film is still rather gripping. A decent film to have in your collection, and one of the better John Grisham book-turned-movie adaptations.

6safenoe

Tommy Lee Jones steals the movie

I saw The Client in the cinema when it was all the ralge to go to the cinema. I thought The Firm was better, but still, The Client doesn't necessarily disappoint. But I expected more from a cinematic experience. The Client could have been a more than decent TV film I guess.

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Trivia
At the time of filming, author John Grisham had casting approval over all film adaptations of his work, and specified that "no professional child actors in Hollywood" be cast as Mark Sway. He felt that the film wouldn't work with a well-known child actor (sporting a phony accent) in the role and that by casting an unknown in the part (preferably from the Memphis area, where the story is set) the film's credibility wouldn't be compromised. Brad Renfro, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee beat out thousands of actors for the role, including Macaulay Culkin.

Goofs
Some have suggested that Mark could not be charged with obstruction of justice simply for lying or refusing to cooperate with the FBI, because of the 5th Amendment. This is not true. Lying to the FBI/prosecutor/police officer can result in a charge of obstruction. Refusing to answer questions will quickly result in a formal subpoena; if one then continues to refuse to testify, he could be charged with contempt. The right not to speak to police or prosecutors (the 5th Amendment) only consists of the right not to incriminate oneself of a crime. However, at the court hearing, Reggie tries to argue around this limitation by pointing out that the prosecutors vaguely implied that Mark could've been involved in killing the lawyer. But the judge doesn't buy it (and the prosecutors could easily get around the problem by giving Mark a guarantee of immunity). If he refused to testify, Mark could be charged with contempt of court. If he lied, he could be charged with obstruction of justice, lying to a federal agent, and/or perjury.