The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, Bryan Cranston, Michael Peña, John Leguizamo, Josh Lucas, and Trace Adkins
Grade: A+

How did this not become a franchise?

Summary

In LA County, California, criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller (McConaughey) works out of his Lincoln Town Car driven by his chauffer Earl Briggs (Laurence Mason). He gets to the courthouse and is immediately interrupted by bail bondsman Val Valenzuela (Leguizamo) who’s got a big potential client for him. Apparently over in Inglewood, Louis Roulet (Phillippe) is locked up for assault with a deadly weapon and for assaulting this woman he was with. He goes up before the judge at noon. The mother’s lawyer Cecil Dobbs (Bob Gunton) was talking to him about the case. Since Val talked Haller up like crazy, they want him. The bail is $1 million. Haller agrees to take it. Since he’s now on a time crunch, he agrees to give the bailiff a bigger Christmas gift. In doing so, the guy moves his client Harold Casey up to next on the list. This way, he can knock it out and get to Inglewood as soon as possible. Haller goes and meets Casey, telling him the judge today will ask if they are ready for trial, but he’s going to refuse because Casey’s people haven’t paid him yet. Casey insists he’ll get the money, but he dares Haller to go along with whatever he’s going to do because he knows Haller just can’t outright quit. To show him what’s up, Haller tells the judge that he would like to carry things over because he’s having trouble locating a witness. Since the state didn’t object, the judge allows it.

Eat shit Casey.

As Haller heads on over to the courthouse in Inglewood, he gets a call from his secretary Lorna (Pell James). She updates him on a myriad of things, along with the fact that consistent client Gloria Larson (Katherine Moennig) called from county lockup because she got picked up on cocaine possession. After the phone call is over, Earl asks to be put on permanently once Haller gets his license back, but Haller says he’s had it back for three months. Immediately after, a biker gang led by Eddie (Adkins) pulls them over. Haller’s client Harold Casey is a part of Eddie’s gang. After Haller tells Eddie how he’s flying in some aerial-photo expert and that he needs to also pay for his hotel, he demands $10,000 on top of the $5,000 he was already given. Eddie gives him the money. Once they leave, Haller tells Earl that it was basically a ploy to get more money and the “expert” will come from Hollywood. Mickey gets to the jail in Inglewood and meets Louis who obviously pleads his innocence, saying the woman set him up. After discussing the family lawyer in Cecil Dobbs and how much Louis made last year, a prisoner named Corliss (Shea Whigham) comes up to Mickey and asks for representation. Once Mickey tells Corliss to leave, he tells Louis that the district attorney will more than likely ask for no bail, but he’s going to try his best to avoid this. Later, Mickey sees DA and his ex-wife Maggie (Tomei) and taunts her about her not getting the case.

She deems Louis a flight risk in front of the judge and requests no bail, but since he’s never had any prior convictions, they compromise on a $1 million bail and a tracer anklet for Louis. After meeting Cecil outside of the courthouse, they see a camera guy trying to record Mickey and him talking. Mickey offers the guy $1,000 for the footage to cover his freelance cost and he accepts it, impressing Cecil. Cecil admits Haller wasn’t his choice, but Louis asked for him directly. After agreeing on Haller’s outrageous pay requests, Haller leaves and pays off the fake camera guy because this is a set-up he does on the regular. Next, Haller goes to meet Gloria Larson and gives her shit for the whole coke possession thing. She suggests the pretrial rehab solution but since they did that last time, he doesn’t think the DA will agree to it.

Apparently, she was with some guy and got paid by him with cocaine instead of money. The guy’s name is Hector “Arrande” Moya, a fugitive from a grand jury in Florida. Haller tells the opposing lawyer in an elevator that the DA wants Hector for drug trafficking, and Gloria’s willing to give up his hotel and room number in exchange for them to drop all charges on her and for her to do the pretrial rehab again. After he threatens to take the deal to the Feds because they would cut the deal in a heartbeat, the woman accepts. Following this, Haller and his investigator Frank Levin (Macy) meet with Louis and Cecil to discuss the case. However, Louis’s mother Mary Windsor (Frances Fisher) is also there, so Haller has her leave because the DA may make her testify about anything she hears from them. Once she leaves, Louis goes straight to asking how fast they can go to trial because he insists his innocence, even saying he will refuse any negotiating on plea bargains or whatever. Next, Louis tells Haller the story of what happened.

He was having a drink at a bar called “The Association”. There was a girl named Regina “Reggie” Campo (Margarita Levieva), and she wasn’t too interested in her date. Eventually, she made her way by Louis and left her address by him on a napkin. Frank, who scored an early copy of the discovery file (everything the DA has), tries to corroborate what Louis is telling them. In the discovery file, there is no information about the other guy Reggie was with nor the bar. Even so, Louis goes back to his story. He waited until the guy left Reggie’s apartment that night. After she let him in, she hit him over the head with something and knocked him out. Once he woke up, a gay couple kept him on the ground as she called the police. He claims she set him up by putting blood on his left hand. Since she still had injuries, Haller wonders if she beat the hell out of herself or had the previous date do it for her. Cecil pipes in and assumes she did it because it’s obvious Louis comes from money. On the other hand, the police report says he broke in and after assaulting her, he held a knife to the left side of her throat. They look at the picture of the knife, but Louis knows for sure this isn’t his knife. Regardless, during the struggle, it is noted from her side of the story that she hit him with a bottle of vodka to knock him out.

That night, Haller and Frank discuss the case at a bar, and Maggie comes by and drives the drunk Haller home. The next morning, Frank comes to Haller’s house with security camera footage from the bar during the night in question. After watching it, they realize the guy Reggie was with initially was in fact left-handed, so he was the one that more than likely hit her. The napkin story is proved as well. Also, Frank found out Reggie is a prostitute. They make a copy of the tape, so Haller can barter with the opposing lawyer in Ted Minton (Lucas). He’s going to meet up with him anyway because Minton is going to hand over the discovery file they’ve already seen. After Haller shows Minton the footage to hope for him to drop the charges, he doesn’t seem to be too shaken. He only offers to drop the charges to assault with a deadly weapon and attempted sexual battery. Haller realizes he’s missing something because it seemed like an open and shut case up until that point. Him and Frank revisit the discovery file they have and compare it to Minton’s, and they finally see what happened. The actual discovery file in Minton’s possession contains the real knife used, and it was Louis’s. The file Frank got from one of his “guys” was a “loaded deck”, false information thrown into the file to make it seem like they have the advantage.

A pissed off Haller meets Louis during one of his golf outings and gives him shit for withholding information. Louis admits he paid Reggie for sex and that the knife in the new picture is his. Louis also admits he always carries this knife on him, especially after an event years ago where his mother was raped while showing a house. Haller says she has to testify, refusing any arguing from Louis and leaves. That night, we see him calmly drop off his daughter at Maggie’s place. The next morning, Detective Kurlen (Michael Paré) runs into Haller and gives him shit for his former client Jesus Martinez (Michael Peña), who’s currently rotting away in San Quentin State Prison for pleading guilty at Haller’s request. Later that night, he sees a drunk Maggie at a bar, and he gets her to talk about Minton and how he plans on putting Corliss (a known snitch) on the stand. As they talk and have fun, they eventually go home that night and have sex. In the morning, they see their daughter sleeping in bed with them because she usually does this when she has nightmares. As Haller starts to get ready to leave and talks about how he can pick their daughter up after school, they get into an immediate argument over work (Haller’s penchant for representing guilty clients) and their personal lives, finally showing us the reason why they’re divorced. Later, Haller does some research over the case and notices that the wounds on Reggie resemble the wounds of the woman Jesus Martinez was accused of killing.

In a flashback, we see Haller tell Jesus he has no case despite his innocence, and the only way to avoid the death penalty is if they plead guilty and get life, which may mean he gets paroled in 15 years.

With all of this recently in mind, Haller goes to San Quentin to ask Jesus once again what happened that fateful night. Though Jesus is not in the mood to see the man that put him there, he tells him the story and how she left another guy to be with him. Haller, wanting to know who this other guy was, starts showing him pictures of possible suspects. One picture makes Jesus flip out and call for the guard to leave: It’s Louis. Haller goes to Frank and tells him everything, and they come to the conclusion that Louis is not only guilty, but he likes seeing other people get in trouble for the crime.

As Frank says, “You got one client in jail for what your other client did. What you gonna do, Mick?”

My Thoughts:

Once again, Matthew McConaughey proves why he’s one of the coolest actors of his generation.

A lot of times in legal dramas, we are subjected to the “cool guy lawyer” shtick and though it can be overused, I always love these characters. Mickey Haller is one of these guys. He’s great at his job. There’s no doubt about it, but what makes Haller so cool is not only his willingness to make an underhanded deal or something that may seem like he’s bending the rules, but how he makes it look like it was absolutely necessary to get to his ultimate goal. Early on, we see Haller do his thing throughout the span of one very active day. Despite all of these meetings and clients he has, he doesn’t miss a beat. He’s always on and he’s full of energy, unbridled confidence, and a tinge of arrogance. He’s not outright about it, but it comes out when he knows he’s got you, as evidenced by his sly smile once he convinces the opposing lawyer in Gloria Larson’s case that he’s got her in a corner, and she agrees to his terms after calling him a “fucking asshole”.

When you’re as slick and stylish as McConaughey is, this level of arrogance just comes off as likable and almost inspiring.

Mickey Haller is the type of character that makes you want to become a lawyer. Obviously, it’s not because of what happened to him, but it’s the wheeling and dealing. Negotiating and getting big money while making life-changing decisions for other people is a very exciting life. This comes with a hell of a price though. As good as he is with where his life is at and his active lifestyle, the Jesus Martinez case still gets to him. That ever-noticeable smile is gone as soon as Detective Kurlen brings him up. It still eats at him. It may be the only thing that really eats at him. The reason that it does is because of the quote from his father that he could never get out of his head regarding the mere idea of being the man responsible for putting an innocent man behind bars. The flashback scene that shows us what happened is a heartbreaker too, played very well by supporting actor Michael Peña. He’s freaking out, swearing up and down how he had nothing to do with this girl’s murder and how he’s being blamed. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, it’s hard not to believe the emotional outbursts from an outsider’s perspective. This is where we see Haller at work and also his ultimate flaw. He’s still a good person at heart, but he’s a lawyer first.

Martinez is panicking and as Haller questions him at every turn because of how the case will look in trial, he angrily asks, “Are you my lawyer?”. With the utmost sincerity, Haller responds with the great quote (in a movie full of them), “I’m trying to be”. It’s a simple line but so well said by McConaughey that it travels miles.

Martinez is crying very real tears, and you don’t know how to react when Haller convinces him to plead guilty just so he stays alive. As a viewer, you’re thinking, “He’s innocent! Why did you do that?”. Just as it does many times throughout the course of the movie, The Lincoln Lawyer asks you to put on your lawyer hat for a second. Based off his expertise and the amount of evidence against Martinez that we are getting in this scene, you are faced with a very real, life-altering problem that Haller is forced to fix to the best of his ability. Despite how calm and collected Haller usually is, these are the usual stresses of the job. He lands on this option being the best he could do, or is it? As heartbroken as Haller is, sometimes he does take the easy way out. Up until this point, it’s not about right or wrong anymore, it’s about winning the case, getting the best deal, and moving on from it. This is why Haller gets so much hate from his peers, including his ex-wife. She’s working her hardest to clean up the streets, but he’s defending those same people and trying his hardest to put them back out there (as long as they pay his fee). This is what makes Haller such an interesting and troubled character. McConaughey is electric in the role, handling it with intensity, a real and emotional understanding of his character’s plight, the changes he goes through because of the situations he finds himself in, and an unmatched charisma that he carries to every role he’s in.

A drunk Haller tells Maggie, “I used to be afraid that I wouldn’t recognize innocence”. Continuing, he doubles down on the fact. He’s not talking about “guilty” and “not guilty”. He was worried about not having the ability anymore to recognize if someone is truly innocent. Haller has gotten so deep into his job that he can’t tell anymore. Early in the film, it looked like he didn’t care, and we just go along with it. However, when he shows that he does care, we become so attached to the character that it’s easy for us to care alongside him. It all goes back to the Martinez case. After seeing Martinez in San Quentin and what he’s become since the last time he saw him, he has a full breakdown. Knowing this is his fault that this innocent man is in prison for life and the “positive” is that he can get paroled in 15 years is exactly what can tear the psyche of a lawyer (or any normal man) apart. At least, it would for a very well-developed and layered, sympathetic main character. Seeing him fall apart as he exclaims to Frank, “I couldn’t believe that I was actually representing an innocent man”. He beats himself up over this because as sympathetic as he was to the case, he knows he could’ve done more if he fully believed in Martinez. He chose what was best for him, not the human being he’s representing. This adds fuel to the fire of his conversation with Maggie, despite his drunken state. He actually has gotten to the point where he can’t recognize innocence. Think about that! Now, he fell for Louis’s story and has to make things right by somehow switching their situations.

Let’s give credit to Ryan Phillippe for playing the prototype for the privileged rich kid trying to get away with sexual assault. He’s already had the look for a while, but the attitude and demeanor he threw on top of it was top notch work. On some minor notes, seeing out-of-his-league Ted Minton get absolutely wrecked in this case was hysterical to me. I don’t know much about Josh Lucas, but he showed every emotion on his face and watching him get stopped in his tracks at so many different points in this trial was so funny to me. The guy that played the “other man” that Reggie was with threw me off. Though he may not have been guilty for this trial, he had to have done something, right? How weird was he? He was such a scumbag in every response he had. Even though I knew it was impossible at that point, I almost thought he still may have been involved somehow. When he sees the picture of Reggie’s wounds, and he responds in this strangest way possible talking about how he’s “not into that rough stuff. I’m a missionary man”, I literally thought in my head, “Who the fuck is this guy?”. When Haller responds with “Not yet” when the guy asked if he was on trial, I wanted to cheer. This guy definitely has some sort of unknown rap sheet.

Anyway, as much shit as Haller gets from others for the way he goes about his dealings, he’s got a good enough reason to. He thinks the whole system is corrupt, and he’s just a spoke on the wheel. There’s a solid amount of commentary on the justice system in The Lincoln Lawyer that really makes us understand the law in a very entertaining way. It starts with his conversation with Kurlen, with him defending his approach because of his example of the DA trying to pin two more murders on an already known killer just to get it out of the way. The real problems with the legal system come up later though, further complicating the story in exciting ways for our characters to navigate their way out of. To write this screenplay, you really have to have a deep understanding of the law, so I commend them for this (and the book that it was based on which probably did more of the leg work). The conversation with Frank spells it out for us novice audience members. In the matter of a minute, we are told why, despite everything we know, Haller has to go through with the trial:

1. They can’t bring it to the cops because Louis is his client.
2. They can’t take it to the DA because he’d lose his license.
3. Any evidence they would find is inadmissible in a court of law because of attorney-client privilege.
4. Because of this, it could ruin any case they may have on Louis in the future.

Can you imagine that? Haller knows his client is guilty and is actually antagonizing him over it. Louis talks openly about how Haller got another man convicted for his crime, but Haller can’t do anything about it outright. The only way to do things is to go through with the trial, figure out a way to incriminate Louis afterwards and leave a paper trail as he does it, and have someone else connect the dots. It’s ingenious, and McConaughey does it with such seriousness, determination, and natural coolness that you can’t help but love every second of watching this thrilling story unfold. Even with this much on the line, Haller doesn’t lose a beat in that courtroom either. I was actually shocked on how bad he took Reggie down in the cross-examination when he knew of her innocence. The man is a cold-blooded killer with a briefcase.

The added element of letting us know early on that Louis did the crime is what makes The Lincoln Lawyer different. The entertainment is not seeing who did it, it’s seeing how Mickey Haller, a guy who’s usually cool as a cucumber, can win a case with his back against the wall, protect those closest to him, and also find a way for the guilty person to go to jail (even though he’s the one that’s defending him). It’s pretty awesome. By the way, the Corliss thing was genius.

The Lincoln Lawyer doesn’t necessarily do anything new for the genre, but it does everything right, giving us a highly entertaining movie with another great turn by Matthew McConaughey to start out the 2010s right. It’s not just a courtroom drama, it has a little bit of everything. It’s a character study with action, a detailed screenplay with questions of ethics and morals, twists and turns, and a plot much more interesting than most give it credit for. With a great supporting role by Marisa Tomei (I loved her and McConaughey together), and a scene where McConaughey finally shuts up Bryan Cranston, The Lincoln Lawyer is full of entertainment at every possible angle.