The Rainmaker, 1997

I didn't like "The Firm" or "The Client" and I was afraid "The Pelican Brief" would have pelicans in it, so I skipped most Grisham stories in the '90s including "The Rainmaker". But CNBC played this the other day and it's a decent courtroom drama. I liked it more than I thought I would. There isn't a lot of nuance to the story - evil mustache twirling insurance executives vs. sick noble peasants- but Matt Damon, Danny DeVito and Jon Voight all give good performances. The minor roles are also well played. Plotwise, it's pretty standard courtroom thriller stuff. Key witnesses turn up just in the nick of time, damning documents get discovered late at night buried in a pile and solid sympathetic witnesses get tangled up on the stand by some legal mumbo-jumbo. But I thought the formula was followed well. My only real objection to this movie (and perhaps a SPOILER) is a minor bitter twist thrown in at the very end. This movie was all set up for a straight, unambiguous happy ending and then it kind of pulls a fast one on the players. It doesn't ruin the movie, but I didn't think it really fit. That twist would have been more appropriate in a deeper, more realistic story than this one. It wasn't a big deal but it annoyed me. Francis Ford Coppola directs, but I'm not sure why they hire such big guns for these Grisham movies. Just build a courtroom set and point the camera at the actors, right? They could have hired any competent TV director. Bob Saget, maybe. Or Potsie. 3 Stars, mostly due to good casting.

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