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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Michael Clayton

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#1 of 1 Posted 9/29/07 10:58 AM

From harveykarten Posts 798 Last Feb-7
To All [Msg # 22665.1 ]

MICHAEL CLAYTON

Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey S. Karten
Warner Bros
Grade: B+
Directed by: Tony Gilroy
Written By: Tony Gilroy
Cast:   George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Michael O'Keefe
Screened at: Warner, NYC, 9/20/07
Opens: October 5, 2007

"Michael Clayton" is the kind of story that John Grisham might have written, collaborating perhaps with
Ralph Nader. Karl Marx might serve as silent partner as well. The movie, written and debut-directed by
Tony Gilroy–best known for scripting the three "Bourne" films–feeds into populist notions even among
many politically conservative Americans–that big business is not to be trusted. Not trusted? The
computer that this is written with was manufactured by a large company, Dell, which is fine; but try to get
tech help from Hyderabad or New Delhi if you don't have a hour or so to spend listening to elevator
music because you get a guy who doesn't exactly speak with a Nebraska accent tries to solve your
problem. In other words, Dell, like most companies listed on the stock exchanges, wants to make
money. If they're sued, they will try every tactic to intimidate the plaintiffs like any other mega-company,
using A-one white-shoe lawyers.

One such lawyer gives the film it's title (played by George Clooney), and like quite a few others with
degrees in jurisprudence has gotten fed up with his job. He's under control, though, never breaks into a
sweat, which is more than you can say for one of his best friends and a co-worker, Arthur Edens (Tom
Wilkinson), who is fed up with a capital F. When Michael Clayton, who considers himself a janitor
because he's a fixer, i.e. one who cleans up messes even if illegal means are used, is told to pick up
and deal with Arthur–who in Milwaukee during his umpteenth deposition goes bananas, takes off all his
clothes, and wanders into the street wearing only his socks–some employees the New York law firm of
Kenner, Bach & Ledeen are worried. Its CEO, Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack), is delicately working
through a merger with a London company. Clayton is $80,000 in debt from gambling and from a failed
business, and has been through a divorce which has him visiting his bright ten-year-old Henry (Austin
Williams) now and then. Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), determined to succeed as chief counsel for the
U/North corporation, is under attack for years in a class action suit brought by families who have had
some members die because U/North had manufactured a toxic weed killer. What's more, U/North has
put oodles of small farmers out of business.

So what are ethical lawyers (not always an oxymoron) to do? If the truth be known that U/North is
covering up, trying to squelch a $3 billion lawsuit, would any associate of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen blow
the whistle? Or would all succumb to the needs of the company to keep a major client and make big
bucks?

What's particularly interesting about "Michael Clayton" is that unlike other conspiracy tales like Alan J.
Pakula's "Parallax View," the tension is low-key. Sure, James Newton Howard's scary music tells us
how to feel when assassins hired by the corporation, are at work, or when Clayton sneaks into the loft
apartment of his friend, Arthur, to unearth evidence of a crime. Still, considering the two-hour length of
the movie, the conventional thrills are few, and the audience must be alert for plans and actions that are
suggested rather than spelled outright.

The film has integrity as well in drawing characters who are not black-and-white. The U/North
corporation may have sold a product, a weed killer, without the slightest intention of killing people, but
stuff happens. Arthur, who has an epiphany about the corruption he has gotten himself into through his
corporate job and bravely tries to make amends, is a manic-depressive who brought unnecessary
shame on himself and his employer by going bananas. Karen Crowder is determined to succeed as
chief counsel for U/North, and is simply doing her job by defending the company she works for. And a
cynical Michael Clayton, increasingly disgusted with what his law firm is doing, has accumulated so
much gambling debt that he has a need to continue playing up to his boss if he's to come up with his
$80,000 deficit.

This, then, is a thinking person's film, graced with powerful performances particularly by Tom Wilkinson,
and one which did not run away to some place in Canada to save money in its creation but was shot
right on location in New York. I didn't need the sentimental scenes with the ten-year-old, even though
the book he's reading has some bearing on the story, nor did Michael's arguments with his family do
anything to advance the plot. Beginning the story with Michael's handling of a rich client's hit-and-run
plight and then heading back to "four days earlier," is a questionable flashback device. Ultimately, a
solid story with strong acting that caters to an intelligent audience already distrusting the veracity not
only of big business (think Enron) but as well of big government (Iraq anyone?).

Rated R.    120 minutes   © 2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Michael Clayton

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