From the early to mid-1990s it would be fair to call John Grisham a very successful brand. His books were bestsellers, but he'd also been tapped as a lucrative source for some fine movie adaptations. I used to think that his movie "honeymoon period" ended just after the release of A Time To Kill, but now I'm not so sure. There are only a few movies adapted from his books that I have yet to see, but my enjoyment of The Rainmaker is making me wonder why I dismissed the others.
This is the tale of a young fresh lawyer, Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon), who thinks he can win an important case for Dot Black (Mary Kay Place). It's an emotional one, based around a denied medical insurance claim that could have saved the life of her terminally-ill son. It's also very important for the insurance company that they don't lose, which is why they put the very experienced and conniving Leo F. Drummond (Jon Voight) on the case. Baylor has the assistance of the smart and crafty Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito), and the judge (Danny Glover) seems to be trying to give him a fair chance. But is that enough, and will Baylor scupper his own chance at success by getting himself involved with a young woman (Kelly Riker, played by Claire Danes) suffering abuse at the hands of her husband?
Directed and adapted from the page by Francis Ford Coppola, with some additional work from Michael Herr, The Rainmaker is the kind of enjoyably classy and entertaining legal thriller that you'd hope to get from a John Grisham tale. It has some fun twists and turns, plays up the underdog nature of the tale arguably more than any other 1990s Grisham adaptation, and allows a stacked cast to have a ball with their screentime.
Damon may be a bit wobbly with his accent throughout, but he's typically earnest and easy to like, making him a great choice for the lead role. Voight is doing great work, somehow not hamming things up and chewing the scenery, at least not in a way that unbalances the film anyway, and he's a fantastic opponent throughout the legal proceedings. DeVito is wonderfully quick and sharp, his years of experience working for someone slightly less reputable (Mickey Rourke) teaching him how to look at every part of a case from so many different angles, and Place is very good as the broken-hearted human trying to be seen behind the walls of legal jargon being built around her. Danes is okay, although the plotting makes it hard to fully trust her for most of the movie, Glover gives a very strong performance as the professional judge offering some assistance when he can, and Virginia Madsen has a couple of scenes that serve as a reminder of what a welcome presence she is in movies. Elsewhere, Teresa Wright is the kind of sweet old lady who you suspect could one day own Tweety Pie, Dean Stockwell is a more cynical and easily-swayed judge, and Roy Scheider swaggers into the third act to put a face to the evil profiteering of the insurance company that has him as their CEO.
There's a pleasant Elmer Bernstein score, some unfussy cinematography from John Toll, and an interesting critique of the gap between the letter of the law and the lengths people will go to in order to exact, or escape, justice.
I guess I now need to make time for The Chamber and The Gingerbread Man, and a long-overdue rewatch of A Time To Kill. If they hold up as well as this one then I'm in for a good time. If not, at least I'll eventually complete my journey through the GCU (Grisham Cinematic Universe, of course). No, I haven't yet watched Mickey, but, yes, I have seen Christmas With The Kranks.
7/10
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