Primal Fear (1996)

Directed by Gregory Hoblit. Starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Andre Braugher, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, Maura Tierney, Reg Rogers, Terry O’Quinn, Jon Seda, Steven Bauer. [R]

Slick, spotlight-grabbing defense attorney Gere volunteers his services for a high-profile murder case where stuttering altar boy Norton is accused of brutally murdering an archbishop. Of course, the altar boy isn’t quite as ingenuous as he seems, the lawyer finds both his professional ethics and personal morality tested, and so on. Like its slippery protagonist, this courtroom drama has so much going for it on the surface—a labyrinth of tangential misdirection, “shocking” twists, trenchant quips, palpable atmosphere, and a handful of strong performances—that it’s easy to go along with the far-fetched calculations that gloss over just how ridiculous it all is (the average John Grisham thriller looks like a model of legal procedure in comparison). Those willing to overlook its staged melodrama and gross negligence of reality are likely to be absorbed early and often; all others can savor the inadvertent laughs, in addition to Gere’s nuanced efforts and Norton’s showy affectations that immediately put the first-time film actor on the map. After a couple decades spent directing TV movies and series (“L.A. Law,” “Hill Street Blues,” etc.), director Hoblit also makes his feature debut. Adapted from a William Diehl novel.

66/100