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Michael Clayton , 2007
English
USA
Plot
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is what is known in the legal world as a "fixer," or in the character's own pejorative version, a "janitor" who cleans up legal messes for VIPs and corporations on behalf of a prestigious New York City law firm. A former litigator, Clayton has found a niche that capitalizes on his legal acumen and shrewd people skills, and yet, after 13 years on the job, finds himself increasingly disgusted with his clientele. The film covers four pivotal days of his life, in which a midlife crisis and a crisis of conscience neatly converge when he is called in to "fix" a situation unfolding in one of his firm's hottest cases. Brilliant lawyer Arthur Edens (another powerhouse performance by Tom Wilkinson), representing a huge agro-chemical corporation being hit by a class action suit, has a bipolar breakdown, compounded by guilt over his defense of a company that is probably in the wrong, but is wealthy enough to buy its innocence either way. The company's CEO (Tilda Swinton) will stop at nothing to keep Edens from sinking the case. Clayton must decide how much of Edens's mad rebellion against the company is sheer mental illness, how much is true, and how much it will cost him to do the right thing.
Clooney delivers a rich performance as a hangdog and haunted man who wants to stay on the side of good, but is a little too skilled at moral margin-walking to make that an easy choice in every situation. Swinton glows as a secretly frail Amazon who somehow won't let a tortured conscience prevent her from getting ahead. The final third of the film is as suspenseful as any courtroom drama, without ever resorting to legal-thriller cliches.
Details
| Language: | English |
| Country: | USA |
| Release date: | 12 October 2007 |
| Runtime: | 119 min |
| Awards: | Academy Awards |
Awards
Cast and Crew
as Michael Clayton
as Arthur Edens
as Karen Crowder
Photos
Clips




Critics Reviews
Washington Post
This uncommonly intelligent thriller evokes the great films of the 1970s ("All the President's Men," "Klute," "Three Days of the Condor") that managed to elicit gritty urban realism while maintaining a suave sense of style and moral complexity.
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- by: Ann Hornaday
Entertainment Weekly
It's better than good; it's such a crackling and mature and accomplished movie that it just about restores your faith.
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- by: Owen Gleiberman
Users Reviews
Funny how movies can be hailed as great nowadays for simply being smart and good. Michael Clayton is smart and good, but one hair shy of great. It's sort of "Erin Brockovich" by way of John Grisham, then put in a time machine and produced in the...
- 13.May.2009
- |
- by: John G.
- John G. rated this movie
8/10Great
I enjoyed Micheal Clayton and I'm only a film lover but first time director Tony Gilroy confused me with his style more than once. The entire cast was first rate and the plot was interesting but something was missing from the film preventing it from...
- 23.March.2009
- |
- by: prozac pop
- prozac pop rated this movie6/10Okay
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