This adaptation of Michael Connelly’s novel stars McConaughey as Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles defense attorney who’s so slippery and elusive that he operates his practice out of the back of his chauffeured Town Car (license plate: NTGUILTY). He’s the most brazenly shameless of the many attorneys McConaughey has played to date. He’s also the kind of delightfully sleazy character McConaughey could play in his sleep, but of course, the story requires him to develop a conscience and to recognize that he’s not always the smartest guy in the room.
The plot is standard stuff (Mickey defends a rich client against a murder charge but comes to believe his client is guilty after all; twists ensue), but the pleasure here is all in the execution. McConaughey is helped by a strong cast that includes such all-stars as Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Ryan Phillippe, Bryan Cranston, Michael Peña, John Leguizamo, and Frances Fisher, but McConaughey does all the heavy lifting.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2uV68pKreU]