Michael Clayton
10/06/2007 Posted by ephraimh
The plot: Clooney is a "janitor" for a huge law firm. His job is to clean up important clients' messes by finding them lawyers who will save their miserable litle hides. He does a few other chores. He's not the firm's "muscle"; he's the connects people; he doesn't "disconnect" them. There's a very little mess at the outset to give us an example of a minor one he has to clean up. I wondered if this was the degree of the messes to come. Then the main mess is created when someone very important trips and hits the floor. The job of cleaning it up is, of course, Clooney's. Clooney is top notch and Arthur Wilkinson delivers a great performance as the guy who trips. Tilda Swinton, as the corporate attorney and the law firm's public face, is very good. There is some very witty dialog and the serious stuff is not the least bit sloppy as it was in The Hunting Party. The one problem I had was figuring out the dynamics of Clooney's family life. It was mostly, but not exclusively, the sub plot. You might have little trouble with it. It's a very intelligent movie, but not riveting as Eastern Promises was.
Pros: Good acting by all the lead performers
Cons: We've seen this plot before
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