Lionsgate

R 119 min.

Here's another surprise for me this week.

I go through a decent amount of books and many of my favorites are mysteries and legal thrillers.

John Grisham used to be good at the genre but now spends his time on long winded politicized lectures. Well I took a flier on a Michael Connelly novel a few years back and found this guy to be a lot more entertaining. Good characters, good suspense and good hooks. He's no Harlan Coben but he ain't bad.

His legal eagle is Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) a tough smart operator not afraid to bend a rule here and there.

He also has a rep for getting bad guys off the hook, but deep inside he operates with a fear of letting a truly innocent man get convicted. As a matter of fact he's starting to doubt one of his past cases when a new one drops in his lap. This time it's a sexual assault with overtones of that case that's been on his mind.

This time the accused is a rich handsome young man (Ryan Phillippe) who doesn't fill the bill at all. Actually it looks like an open and shut acquittal. The accuser is a hooker who needs money and moreover his story checks out with the security video from the bare where they met.

Then little things start to go wrong.

I won't tell you the details since that's what you watch mysteries for.

I'd read the book and liked it but I still loved the movie.

One surprise was McConaughey. Though a seemingly nice enough guy, he has never really found a role he fit and has been in some bad movies. Until now.

This is probably his best role to date.

Also a plus is William H Macy who always does a good job and rarely appears in a stinker.

Then there's Marisa Tomei who should be getting a lot more and better roles. She's really talented and exceptionally cute though, so just being onscreen gives any movie a boost.

Also Phillippe is at the top of his game as the arrogant murder suspect.

Great suspense with no ridiculous twists or obvious misdirection.

With Connelly's backlog of books this could be a franchise for McConaughey.

A-

WSS

email westsidesteve@aol.com