A Civil Action
REVIEW DATE: 1:23:0:0You wanna know an actor who really blows my goat? John Travolta, that's who. If, for some sick reason you wanna get me really, really mad then email me telling me how good a movie Grease is. Do you just have a burning desire to piss me off? Then try and tell me how great Saturday Night Fever is. Just try it!
Whew. Now that that's out of my system, we can get on with it. Pretty soon, I'll be able to actually judge whether or not 1998 was a good year for movies. I'm seeing so damn many of them, after all. It's not like this knowledge would accomplish anything, but we all have our hurtles to jump over.
A Civil Action begins in Boston, the city of . . . something that I'm sure is worth mentioning. And when I remember it, by God I'm going to mention it. Jan Schlichtmann (Travolta) is an ambulance chaser for a small, independent law firm. Taking a break from leaching off human misery, Jan goes on to a local radio station. On the air, he has the misfortune of getting a call from Anne (Kathleen Quinlan), calling in all the way from a small New England town.
Small New England Town has a problem, you see. Several of its children are dying from icky forms of cancer. Then, of course, they're mutating into huge, radioactive monsters and laying siege to the town.
Oh, sorry. That might have gotten a 3 at least. But this is A Civil Action and in A Civil Action the yolkals blame a local leather tanning plant up stream. Jan makes a trek to this little hamlet and informs them, as nicely as possible, that they just aren't rich enough for him to bother with.
Of course, when he gets a speeding ticket near the plant, he immediately sees the plant is owned by a big ass mega corporation. Seeing this corporate food chain, Jan, and his partners, here that little ka-CHING sound, and the game is afoot.
So let's review: Mr. Schlichtmann (that's "slick man", or a Hebrewized version there of) tells these childless parents that he won't take there case unless they pony up the dough. This leads me to believe (a) Mr. Slick is a very large dick walking around in a suit and (b) writer/director Steven Zaillian wants me to like this guy. Oh no, that doesn't insult my intelligence at all, Mr. Zaillian. Jeez . .
But wait! He can change! And he does change. Suddenly and unexpectedly. About halfway through the movie someone flips a switch and Travolta stops acting like a game show host (apparently, tough personal injury lawyers act like game show hosts) and becomes serious and dedicated to helping the people of this town. In fact, he ends up being so serious and dedicated that it drives his partners into bankruptcy as he draws the case onward.
What do I think about this movie? I think John Revolta (as he is known in my house) says it himself. "They jury came here expecting a human drama and we give them a geology lesson." I feel the same way, bud. I sat my butt down for this movie expecting a human drama. Instead, I seam to get a lesson in how civil trials work, with Jan popping in for an informative voice over every now and then.
To make things worse, almost every character in the movie is richer then Jan. The parents of the town, Jan's partners, hell, even the Evil Corporation's lawyer (played by Robert Duvall) is a much better character. (Mostly because he's played by Robert Duvall, but I digress.) If the movie had been about any of these characters I'm almost sure I would have liked it more. But no. We got stuck with the lawyer. Thanks, movie.
And, again, almost everyone outshines Travolta in the acting department by virtue of the fact that they actually get something to do. They're much more involved in the situation. The parents (with Quinlan being the stand out performance) have all lost children. The partners (with William H. Macy being the standout here) get to see a business crumble around their heads. And, of course, there's Duvall, but he's suppose to be in the pocket of Evil Capitalists, so there's no chance in hell of that. So I'm left pretty close to boredom, until I get to see Jan interact with one of the above, which isn't often enough to save the movie.
In the end, I just don't care about our main character. Sorry, Zaillian. I liked Searching for Bobby Fischer if it makes you feel better. Not that you're reading this. And since you aren't, you suck. And so does your movie. Not very hard, but I still wouldn't watch it again. It just goes to show how movies biased on true stories can go wrong. Reality isn't like the movies. Reality doesn't wrap itself up in a neat little package. Neither does A Civil Action.
G (out of a possible five)
MOCK O' METER
