James Foley directs Chris O’Donnell, Gene Hackman and Faye Dunaway in this John Grisham adaptation where a rookie lawyer tries to appeal his long lost racist grandpappy’s death row conviction.

I’m not sure if there is a better film here but Chris O’Donnell doesn’t help. The nadir / zenith pulls of his and Hackman’s casting isn’t sustainable for a serious drama. As a thriller, the mild peril seems particularly forced. A more worthy movie might explore racism, anti-death penalty politics and generational trauma of past violence. This just pays lip service to those weighty issues. For example, here is a film where the main character is a KKK lifelong ultra and there are less racial slurs than The Nutty Professor remake. Prestige trash. Forgotten but not unwatchable.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Runaway Jury (2003)

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