It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's funny how differently various people feel about a film. I thought this was a great film. Some felt it was corny and predictable. I suppose there is some truth to that, but the story and especially the characters were believable to me. And the principles like one needing God to help one through devastating loss rang true to me. I'm a Matthew Modine fan now, as imo he carried the film. This film made only $20,000, and I'm sure the budget was two or three times that at least. I found it after pages of B movies because I just joined Amazon Prime and some movies are "free" with that service. I'm adding my review to twenty-some others, at the end, and for the most part this is a forgotten movie with plenty of negative reviews, but I'm glad it was made, and I respect each actor and craftsperson who had anything to do with it.

Several of the cast members appear in other movies (Remember the Titans, the Ultimate Gift) and it's good to see them continuing to contribute to the motion picture arts even in a 2nd tier movie. The plot is classic Southern courtroom drama, and appropriately, a little drawn out and deliberative. Several plots intertwine in this film (don't they always?), and so the film's title is really a double meaning: There is a courtroom "trial", and at the same time, the lead actor (Modine) is undergoing trials on the personal and professional level. This film won't be hailed as in the same ilk as Grisham, but it doesn't assert itself to be. Watch it for the personal trial, not the courtroom trial, and you'll catch the intended meaning. Definitely will recommend it to my friends.

Slow and not particularly well acted, "The Trial" stars Matthew Modine in what was possibly a TV pilot.Modine, one of the producers of this drama, plays Mac, an attorney who has been unable to cope with the horrible deaths of his wife and sons in a car accident. He has not been practicing law and in fact, is about to blow his brains out when a call comes in from a judge (Rance Howard) who wants him to take a case. A young man has been accused of giving a woman drugs and then killing her.Mac reluctantly takes this on, coming up against a prosecutor (Bob Gunton) who asks for the death penalty. Mac hires an investigator (Robert Forster) and a psychiatrist (Clare Carey) to see what they can find out about what happened and about the psychological makeup of the man himself.Nothing original about this film or the story. Modine gives a nice performance, as does Forster, one of my favorite actors. The rest of the acting was not impressive, nor was the direction. It possibly had the makings of a TV series, though, with some better pacing and scripts.

Yet another courtroom drama. The problem with these kind of films is "how do you wrap it up", and The Trial doesn't escape from the same lame ending as many more films before it.interesting up to a point, the first half of the film qualifies as a "very good, for-TV show", but thats about it. the current 5.8 IMDb vote pretty much sums it up, add the fact that the film itself is not really interesting, and you know you can do better with 90 minutes of your time.A retiring lawyer whose son just died takes on the defense of a very unlikely young ex-marine, who is obviously being framed for the murder of his fiancée. The only two actors worth mentioning, the two lawyers, go trough the case until the verdict; Then, a rapid - and very unwelcome - change of pace leads to the fast and amateurish end of the film.The Trial is the very essence of a film that can be missed - it has no redeeming qualities, and although not horrible per se, there is absolutely nothing to keep you interested. Not the kind of rubbish that makes you change the channel, but certainly not something you might want to rent or buy.4/10decent but uninvolved acting, recycled script with no conclusion, boring music, and so-so production. Avoid.