A Pleasant Rain

I've never cared much about John Grisham one way or the other, either in his original novels, or in the countless film adaptations of them. But a friend recommended The Rainmaker to me, so I decided to give the film a shot.

The Rainmaker is the story of a young man finishing up law school, trying to start his career with a major case against a health insurance provider. Along the way, he's forced to learn about how the practice of law isn't really about the merits of law... all that sort of "you're in the deep end now, kid" stuff. I can try dress it up a little and make it sound snappy, but the simple fact is that plot isn't the strong suit of this tale. I'm not even sure Grisham himself would make that claim. There isn't anything going on here that hasn't happened in other films, TV legal dramas, books, you name it.

Fortunately, there is more going on here than the simple story. There are a few interesting characters to watch, and a lot of very fine actors portraying them. Matt Damon stars as the new young lawyer, and does a good job of mixing "aw shucks" with "driven up and comer." Danny DeVito is really well cast as the slimy "fixer" (of a sort) that does the leg work for the case, and shows the new kid the ropes. Jon Voight is a good, smarmy adversary as the head lawyer representing the insurance company. Plus, there are good smaller turns from Claire Danes, Mickey Rourke, Virginia Madsen, Dean Stockwell, Roy Scheider, and more.

Plus, though I didn't know it until the end credits started rolling, the film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. I'm gonna commit some cinematic sacrilege here and admit (if you didn't already know it) that I didn't care for any of the Godfather films much... but I nevertheless respect Coppola as a director. The man knows how to get a good performance from an actor, whether that means helping the actor or getting out of the way, whether that means letting one take breathe or stitching together the best moments in the editing room. And he knows how to frame a great shot that works on you subconsciously to tell the story.

In short, I felt like there was really more talent involved in this movie than it probably deserved on paper. But because so many great people bring their top game, it becomes a movie that's actually worth seeing. The weak, cliché script keeps it only a B- overall in my book, but I found enough to enjoy even though I felt like I'd "seen it before."