Michael Clayton (2007)

This is a really good legal thriller with great performances -- but it's not groundbreaking in any way.

George Clooney plays Clayton, a "fixer" for a tony law firm. He's a gambler and has quite a bit of debt due to a restaurant venture that failed because his drunk brother/business partner apparently ruined it somehow. He's obviously at a "what's the point" place in his life...working non-stop at a soul-sucking job with nothing to show for it but worry lines and cash troubles. So, when he's called in to work on the messes being left by one of the firm's top litigators who has become an unpredictable loose-cannon, he's looking at the problem from a sympathetic position for probably the first time in his life.

Like I said, it's good, but not terribly original. Also, I'm not sure there was any good reason to start the movie with a scene that falls, chronologically, toward the end of the story being told. It didn't really seem to add anything -- just was a little confusing, to tell the truth.

B+