So much average

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Blistering performances.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I think this film is garbage. I'll be clear ... it's a competently made film with a mostly talented cast, but the story is really stupid in the laziest way possible. All the characters are one dimensional stereotypes and they inhabit a plot that strains to reach mere implausibility.

The Sway brothers come from a single parent home, one that is so poor, that they have to be left unsupervised. Often times, they go exploring in the woods behind their trailer, but on this particular day, they run into another person, a man intent on killing himself. When young Mark (Brad Renfro) interferes, the man takes him prisoner and before taking his own life, he opens up to the boy about some things he never should have told anyone. Mark calls the police and ultimately lies to them, the way any kid would, but they know it and when the FBI comes into the investigation, the smart twelve year old decides it's time for him to go out and find a lawyer. It took me a long time to watch this film because as a fan of John Grisham, I prefer to read his books before I see his films. As is the case in the Client, a lot of those films are directed by Joel Shumacher, who remains true to the story and produces a tremendous movie. After a nationwide search, Brad Renfro was selected to star in the first role of his brief, but brilliant career. Renfro unfortunately died of a drug overdose fourteen years later, but was well on his way to becoming a superstar. Even in his very first performance, you could see that this kid had what it takes to star in a film like this and really held his own with the all-star cast. Here he's paired with Susan Sarandon, who despite her reputation is often times someone I find unimpressive. She can be fantastic, but rarely seems to fit the roles she's cast in, but not here. As Mark's lawyer, Reggie Love, Sarandon portrays one of her most interesting characters to date and gives a flawless performance. The Client is a story written by one of America's favorite novelists, and what makes Grisham's stories so good is the fact that he is a lawyer, so everything is accurate as well as exciting. Together with a terrific cast, the Client had all the action, twists, and turns a fantastic court room drama should have. This story may have been a little more out there than some of Grisham's other films, nevertheless it is still a film that will hold your interest and keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Client is a good film with moments of extreme greatness especially for a courtroom thriller such as this. But there are also scenes where they should have been added into the editing room. The film was excellent in the beginning, slows to a crawl in the middle, and picks up in the end. If it stayed like the beginning, this film would have been flawless.After a 11-year-old kid and his brother witnessed a suicide, the kid hires an attorney to help protect him and his family from threatening mafia members and a stubborn Federal District attorney.The acting is very good in this film. Susan Sarandon seemed like she was born to play this role. She was just perfect! For a kid who never acted before, Brad Renfro was brilliant as the snobby 11-year-old.Overall, this is a slightly above-average crime thriller. Sarandon steals the show as her role of the attorney. Joel Schumacher directed a masterpiece compared to the Batman films he would take over after this film. I rate this film 8/10.

I remember this as a great movie by Sarandon (Dead Man Walking), who got an Oscar nomination out of her performance in a year of great movies, the best being, of course, Four Weddings and a Funeral.Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive, JFK) was super as the Rev. Roy, and the lovely and talented Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds", "Angels in America") was great as Mark's (Brad Renfro) mom. Anthony LaPaglia was just the embodiment of evil as Barry Muldano.The supporting cast reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood: J.T. Walsh, William H. Macy, Bradley Whitford, Anthony Edwards, Ossie Davis, and more.