Matthew McConaughey and the movie ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’

The sixteenth novel written by crime novelist Michael Connelly introduced the half-brother to detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, namely Los Angeles attorney Mickey Haller. The 2005 book The Lincoln Lawyer emerged six years later as the movie of the same name. Six years later, the movie version of the book The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) emerged with Matthew McConaughey in the leading role as Mickey, or Mick, Haller.

(Left to right, Michael Peña as Jesus Martinez and Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer).

We are introduced to the moderately successful Mickey Haller, who is driven around in his Lincoln Town Car. The car itself stands in for Haller’s office, which in part ties to Haller’s typical clients of drug dealers and gangsters. A former client named Jesus Martinez, as portrayed by Michael Peña, lays important background for the man Haller is while being relevant to the case of wealthy realtor Louis Roulet, who is accused of assault and attempted murder in what at first appears to be a set up by the female “victim”. In the book, Jesus Martinez was named Jesus Menendez.

(Left to right, Margarita Levieva as Regina (Reggie) Campo and Ryan Phillippe as Louis Roulet in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer).

Ryan Phillippe portrays Louis Roulet, who looks to be setup by Regina Campo. Margarita Levieva portrays Campo, a paid entertainer whose assault clearly occurred with the underlying facts of the situation in dispute. Haller’s assistant Frank Levin, as portrayed by William H. Macy, helps to investigate. Levin finds a fact pattern that leads to the case of Martinez, bringing doubt to the truthfulness of what Roulet has shared with his defense attorneys.

(From left, Mackenzie Aladjem as Hayley Haller and Marisa Tomei as Maggie McPherson in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer).

We are introduced to Mick Haller’s ex-wife, prosecutor Maggie McPherson and the couple’s daughter, Hayley Haller, along the way. The emotional baggage of these relationships, as well as that of the convicted Jesus Martinez, take further definition at this point. Whether McPherson, as portrayed by Marisa Tomei, is the prosecuting attorney for the Roulet case is at first unclear. The unraveling of that little degree of mystery was a nice touch. Mackenzie Aladjem portrayed Hayley Haller.

(From left, Michael Paré as Detective Kurlen, Michaela Conlin as Detective Sobel, and Bryan Cranston as Detective Lankford in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer).

That baggage takes a further turn when Haller, with the findings from Frank Levin in hand, asks Martinez something that would indicate how truthful Roulet has been in sharing information in his case. Meanwhile, investigation by Detective Sobel and her colleagues of the shooting death of Frank Levin makes Haller look guilty because the gun was of a model stolen from Haller. Circumstances point to Roulet being responsible for this, in addition to veiled threats against Maggie McPherson and Hayley Haller.

(Left to right, Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller and Josh Lucas as Ted Minton in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer).

Detective Sobel is portrayed by Michaela Conlin. Sobel’s boss, Detective Lankford as portrayed by Bryan Cranston, suspects Mick Haller. Meanwhile, Mick Haller does something ethically questionable that prompts state’s attorney Ted Minton to look long at hard about next steps for the spinning wheel of the Louis Roulet trial. Something just intervenes at Maggie McPherson’s hands, shortly after Haller calls upon his past to address a larger piece of drama that co-mingles with two intriguing applications of loyalty to family.

(Frances Fisher as Mary Windsor in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer).

Mary Windsor, as portrayed by Frances Fisher, first appears in the movie of The Lincoln Lawyer. Her larger narrative is instrumental in the trial of her son. Mick Haller’s chauffer, Earl, offers a lesson of loyalty that brings the notion of the defense attorney forward. Laurence Mason portrayed Earl. Watching the movie to here the story’s take on loyalty is worth the time investment.

(Left to right, Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller and Laurence Mason as Earl in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer).

In getting into the movie adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer, the casting decisions for the film were really top notch. I honestly loved the police detectives chosen, as well as reprising Matthew McConaughey as a lawyer fifteen years after A Time To Kill (1996). Marisa Tomei as Maggie McPherson was another stellar choice. Typically typecasting as a phenomenon can be detrimental, though it worked here. The layers of the story worked well, too, for a movie with the given rating (PG-13). My 4.00-stars rating on a scale of one-to-five for The Lincoln Lawyer reflects this.

Matt – Saturday, April 18, 2020

John Grisham and ‘The Whistler’

There was A Time To Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and many other books written by John Grisham before The Whistler offering came about in 2016. I hadn’t read any Grisham books in awhile, and took a chance in reading The Whistler when a library copy recently came to my attention.

(John Grisham, writer of The Whistler).

The Whistler is not an equal of Grisham‘s earlier books, nor is it reminiscent of other notable works like A Time To Kill is a happier version of Harper Lee‘s To Kill A Mockingbird. The Whistler strikes me as a hurried version of a book written with deadline in mind that takes the same episodic plot twists established by Grisham with his book The Firm.

(The Whistler).

The Whistler is set primarily in the southeast with some stops in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. Native American Gaming features at the center of the tale of enterprise fraud, judicial corruption, hidden identities, purported disinterest from the FBI, and a central figure (Lacy Stoltz) bent on taking the word of a little guy aiming to combat a system stacked against said little guy.

(The Whistler).

Stoltz works for a made-up organization called the BJC, which for the sake of The Whistler reflects the Florida Bureau of Judicial Conduct. Intimidating the investigation that Stoltz agrees to run a maligned mole and former criminal with a law background are the name of the game, and people that Stoltz cares for die. Gunther Stoltz, overprotective and overbearing brother to Lacy, insinuates himself into the tale because, conveniently, that what brothers with unlimited influence and abilities to overcome their own lack of boundaries do.

(The Whistler).

I am deliberately not going into a great deal of detail with this review as I feel that this would imply more care for the readers of the book than even Grisham has offered on this book. The story could have had an interesting premise if the story had more heart to it. The characters were not particularly likable, nor did it seem that there was much accounting for the readers in crafting a story that might cleverly challenge us to guess where the tale was going. Overall, my rating of The Whistler by John Grisham is 2.50-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, February 27, 2019