The director certainly wasn't the reason why I gave this movie a try, because I must say that I've never heard of the man before. Still, that doesn't mean he can't make a good movie of course. Many famous directors once started their careers when their name was still unknown, so why wouldn't this man be able to make an excellent movie? And I'm already used to watch movies that don't seem to appeal to a great audience for different reasons, so in the end I went for it and hoped for the best...
After Lawson Russell gets disbarred as a lawyer for not defending one of his clients the way he should - he knows the man is guilty and his conscience forbids him to keep the man out of jail - he will write a book about his experiences. But the work doesn't progress at all, he doesn't even get started. With his publisher on his back, he doesn't really know what to do. And that's when he meets an old man for the first time. They get along well and when the man asks Russell to read the manuscript of a book that he has been writing, Russell is blown away by it. He is completely struck by the genius of the story and wishes he had written it himself. When he wants to return it, he finds out that the man has just died and then he comes up with an idea that will change his life: he will have the book published under his own name and will not tell anybody that he isn't the original author. The book is an instant best-seller, but than all good fortune turns against him. He gets arrested for the true life murders of the five lawyers in his book and has to try to prove that he is innocent, which is almost impossible because he has burned all evidence of what he did...
As a story this certainly isn't awful. Although I can't really see it as an original or strong movie, it is enjoyable and entertaining enough to spend 1.5 hours on it. I guess in the end it is Cuba Gooding Jr. who really makes it worth watching. It's nice to finally see him in a leading role and he gets away with it pretty well. But it also has to be said that he can never make you forget about the weak plot twists in the movie.
In the end this movie has too many weaknesses and looks too much like the average courtroom thriller, but even though this isn't the best thriller ever, I know worse ways of spending my time. I'm certainly not saying that it is a masterpiece, but in my opinion it still deserves a rating of 6.5/10.
After Lawson Russell gets disbarred as a lawyer for not defending one of his clients the way he should - he knows the man is guilty and his conscience forbids him to keep the man out of jail - he will write a book about his experiences. But the work doesn't progress at all, he doesn't even get started. With his publisher on his back, he doesn't really know what to do. And that's when he meets an old man for the first time. They get along well and when the man asks Russell to read the manuscript of a book that he has been writing, Russell is blown away by it. He is completely struck by the genius of the story and wishes he had written it himself. When he wants to return it, he finds out that the man has just died and then he comes up with an idea that will change his life: he will have the book published under his own name and will not tell anybody that he isn't the original author. The book is an instant best-seller, but than all good fortune turns against him. He gets arrested for the true life murders of the five lawyers in his book and has to try to prove that he is innocent, which is almost impossible because he has burned all evidence of what he did...
As a story this certainly isn't awful. Although I can't really see it as an original or strong movie, it is enjoyable and entertaining enough to spend 1.5 hours on it. I guess in the end it is Cuba Gooding Jr. who really makes it worth watching. It's nice to finally see him in a leading role and he gets away with it pretty well. But it also has to be said that he can never make you forget about the weak plot twists in the movie.
In the end this movie has too many weaknesses and looks too much like the average courtroom thriller, but even though this isn't the best thriller ever, I know worse ways of spending my time. I'm certainly not saying that it is a masterpiece, but in my opinion it still deserves a rating of 6.5/10.