That Budweiser Frog in the middle sent in this review of THE RAINMAKER. Now a little history on the test screenings I've heard about on this film. They've ranged from hating the film to loving it. So here is what a Frog thought.
A John Grisham Movie Worth Seeing? Could there be such a thing.
Yes.
I had a chance to view a screening tonight of The Rainmaker, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and had absolutely no high expectations, due to earlier experiences during Grisham films. Mr. Coppola was in attendance at the screening, and I think he’ll sleep well tonight.
PLOT-A young lawyer fresh from law school, (don’t they always start Grisham synopsis that way?) takes on a huge insurance coorporation with hopes of showing their sickening buisness practice of routinely denying all insurance claims.
OVERALL-The movie played extremely well, even in it’s rough cut form. The audience responded better than I did, which is unusual. This movie is typical Grisham format, but thanks to Coppola’s sense of character’s archs throughout the film. All supporting characters produce in spades. The theme was a little weak, having to struggle through all the court cliche’s before able to begin on new ground.
ACTING-With Grisham’s material, it’s all talk, and no doing. Instead of learning characters through their actions, we learn info by having “down-home” conversations which tend to get a little bit hokey. BUT, every single supporting actor, from Virginia Madsen’s recovering alcholic witness to Roy Schneider as the leader of the nasty insurance coorporation who manages to think he’s clean of misdoing. Matt Damon managed to win my approval about halfway through, i thought he was just incredibly bad at first, but it was just his character being an idiot.
John Voight was incredibly sleazy as the head rat defense attorney, he even gets to twist the knife even after the verdict.
MUSIC-Awful temp track....I hope it was temp.
DIRECTION-Not pushing a jazzy new look for this film, Coppola takes your attention off the direction, and glues it to the characters. The court scenes are like tennis matches watching everyone’s heads swing back and forth in tune with the lawyers. A few trademark Coppola shots make it in,(split focus), and he brings the grim reality of a leukemia(forgive my spelling) patient in without forcing you to care for them, he lets you be the judge. Some scenes with Matt Damon and Claire Danes, as a battered wife, capture the exact essence of meeting a girl, just when their feet touch under a table, i swear i had a sense memory of someone I knew.
ENDING-Didn’t exactly fall down crying, but it left remembering the characters Also if this stuff actually happens at insurance companies, it’s really disturbing.
Chief Dan George stumbled over to the fire with his favorite wet blanket and sent in his glowing review of THE RAINMAKER. This combined with the Budweiser Frog review spells good changes from the last screening. This is a welcomed thing, improvements in screening performances is a good thing. And every time I get a bad test screening review I hope that they get better.
I caught a screening of The Rainmaker (based on the John Grisham novel) last night at Paramount and I can tell you this is not a bad film at all. This is Coppola's latest effort, and ole' Francis was even there in the audience. The film is about a young law student trying to get going in Memphis (I think). This may contain some SPOILERS since I don't know how they are marketing this or who in the cast is being promoted in the ads.
This movie has a great cast that really worked well together. Jon Voight is awesome as the pompous corporate defense lawyer. He makes you hate him and appreciate his character's intelligence at the same time.
Danny Glover turns up about halfway through to replace Dean Stockwell as the judge in a case involving the family of a teen with leukemia vs. a big health insurance company. Danny De Vito is funny and competent as the Damian's partner. He pulls off being a bumbling but very clever and focused sidekick. Roy Schieder makes a surprise cameo near the end as does Virginia Madsen. Claire Danes pulls off a good performance as Andrew Shue's battered wife. Shue, by the way, has about 2 lines thank God, and is hardly seen through the film. You'll love what happens to him. I was laughing my patootie off when it did.
The case that is being handled is actually one that many people could identify with. Insurance companies trying to get out of paying what they should be paying to a family, and the result of their negligence. The case is handled very believably.
The film is a very competently directed one as well, and has many humorous moments. It does not, however contain any thing that is signature of Coppola. It's like the just walked through this one because it was an easy task. It's not bad because of that, but just doesn't feel like it was his film.
