“Ain’t no love in the city, ain’t no love in the heart of town,” sings soul king Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland during the opening moments of The Lincoln Lawyer, as we are introduced to a shadowed Los Angeles, where sunshine is a dirty word and green is the only color that matters.  Criminal defense attorney Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) thrives in this compromised world, working his legal magic with questionable bedfellows (which includes Trace Adkins as a rebel biker) from the back of a chauffeured Lincoln sedan.  Haller lands a seemingly easy payday when a bail bondsmen (John Leguizamo) he greases lands him a rich marlin.  Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) is an entitled Beverly Hills punk on the hook for the rape and attempted murder of an escort, and Mick is hired on to clean up the mess.  All he has to do is successfully defend Roulet, who claims he’s innocent, and Haller is in the financial pink.

But life isn’t that easy for the lovable attorney.  To wash away the stain of his work day, he pounds a few beers with his friend/investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy), and it’s usually up to his ex-wife, who’s also a lawyer (Marisa Tomei) to drive him back to his Echo Park digs.  When Haller discovers a client (Michael Pena) may be in jail thanks to Roulet, he must either look the other way or lawyer up and do the right thing.  Taking the moral higher ground leads our hero into perilous terrain, as his family and livelihood are threatened by Roulet’s and his mother’s (Frances Farmer, excellent as a steel blooded matriarch) manipulations.

The film is based on the book by bestselling writer Michael Connelly (Blood Work), and director Brad Furman effectively captures the dark and gritty layers which inhabit author’s work.  Mr. McConaughey, who proved he could effectively anchor dramatic films (A Time to Kill, U-571) earlier in his career, has wasted a substantial portion of the last 10 years swimming through aimless studio ventures (Fool’s Gold, Sahara, Two For the Money) and toothless romantic comedies (Failure to Launch, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past).  With The Lincoln Lawyer, the 41-year-old sheds his rakish golden boy persona and delivers his gutsiest and most inspired work to date.

Kudos to the film’s first rate soundtrack, which is peppered with old school hip hop (most notably Eric B. & Rakim’s “Don’t Sweat the Technique” and Eric Sermon’s “Music”) and select cuts from underrated artists Citizen Cope (”107 Degrees”) and Ari Hest (”Now”).  On one of the album’s tracks, the late MC Guru rapped that “we all must meet our moment of truth.”  Exposed to an abundance of corruption, backstabbing, and bloodletting, Mick Haller faces questions he’s skillfully avoided for years.  With The Lincoln Lawyer, the story of a man who reclaims a piece of his soul in the City of Angels, Mr. McConaughey may have found the answer.

Click on the media bar and listen to McConaughey talk about his own lawyer.

  The Lincoln Lawyer, co-starring Bryan Cranston and Michael Pare, is now playing.

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posted by Greg Srisavasdi