Movies - Home Page
"A to
Z" List of Law-Related Movies
Movies Organized by
Substantive Law Subject
Comedies
Court
Martial Movies
Courtroom Dramas
Documentaries
Inspirational Lawyer
Movies
Prison-Related Movies
Top 10
All
of Me (1984). Starring Steve
Martin, Lily Tomlin. A rich but sick
millionaire (played by Lily Tomlin) decides to
have her soul transferred into the body of a
younger women but by mistake her soul ends up
in the body of Steve Martin, who plays a
lawyer whose body is now partly controlled by
Lily Tomlin's character. A very funny movie.
Read
Roger Ebert's review (3.5 stars).
The
Castle (1997). Starring
Michael Caton. An extremely hilarious
Australian comedy dealing with, of all things,
expropriation (hence the title, which stems
from the saying "A man's home is his castle").
Some hilarious courtroom scenes.
Laugh-out-loud funny. See Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
Defending
Your Life (1991). Starring
Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep. Only marginally
law-related, this comedy is the story of
Daniel Miller who, after being killed in a car
accident, must "defend" his life before a
tribunal in Judgment City, a sort of waiting
room for the afterlife. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).
First
Monday in October (1981).
Starring Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh. A
reader of SLAW noticed my list of law-related
movies had initially omitted this movie (which
I have not yet seen), which stars Jill
Clayburgh playing the first female judge on
the United States Supreme Court (which,
coincidentally, was the same year that Sandra
Day O'Connor sat as the first female judge on
that Court). According to descriptions, Walter
Matthau plays the curmudgeonly Liberal judge
on the Court when supposed comedic friction
ensues between the two of them. Read
Janet Maslin's largely unfavourable 1981
review in The New York Times.
A
Fish Called Wanda (1998).
Starring John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Eric Idle
and Jamie Lee Curtis. A hilarious movie in
which John Cleese plays a barrister who gets
tangled up with a group of bungling diamond
thieves. Extremely funny. Only marginally law
related but the funny scenes with Cleese
getting caught dancing in the buff are worth
it. Read Roger
Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).
The
Fortune Cookie (1966):
It has been years since I saw this movie,
directed by Billy Wilder and starring Walter
Matthau as an ambulance-chasing lawyer who
convinces his brother-in-law, played by Jack
Lemmon, a cameraman injured by a football
player during a game, to pretend to be
injured. Read the original New York Times
movie review by Vincent Canby
here.
Intolerable Cruelty
(2003). In one of the lesser-known or less
popular
Coen Brothers' film, George Clooney
plays a famous and wealthy divorce lawyer who
gets entangled on the other side of divorce
proceedings with a wealthy socialite played by
Catherine Zeta-Jones. Read Roger Ebert's 2.5
star review
here.
Jury Duty
(1995). Okay. I seriously debated whether to
include a Pauly Shore movie and may regret its
inclusion. However, the cast includes Stanley
Tucci. The story, if it matters, is the
comedic notion - stretched for 86 minutes -
that the Pauly Shore character realizes it is
in his interest as a jury member on a criminal
trial to stretch the duration of the trial to
continue to earn his "per diem" stipend. Janet
Maslin's
original New York Times review pretty
much somes it up with this comment: "If you
have odd socks that need matching, you've got
something better to do than watching Jury
Duty."
Legally
Blonde (2001). Starring
Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson. A fairly light
comedy about a sorority girl (played by
Witherspoon) who applies to Harvard Law School
in order to "show up" her ex-boyfriend, also
accepted at Harvard. She soon discovers her
pre-law skills serve her well in defending a
client charged with murder. Some fairly
preposterous court scenes, but this is a
comedy after all, not a documentary. Good for
a few laughs if you are willing to ignore
rules of evidence and civil procedure. Read
the original New York Times review
here.
Liar,
Liar (1997). Starring Jim
Carrey. A young boys wish that his father not
be able to lie for 24 hours comes true but
haunts his father (played by Carrey), a lawyer
whose court appearances require him to "bend
the truth" on behalf of his client. Some
fairly funny courtroom scenes involving
Carrey. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
Life
and Times of Judge Roy Bean
(1972). Starring Paul Newman, directed by John
Huston. A humorous movie in which Newman plays
an unlikely symbol of justice in the Old West
as Judge Roy Bean whose judicial
decision-making is often based on "six
shooter" justice. Read the original New York
Times review
here.
Logorama (2009).
Winner of the 2009 Oscar for Best Animated
Short Film. A brilliant take on American
society and consumerism with a Quentin
Tarentinoesque take of two Los Angeles police
officers (in the form of Bibendum, the
Michelin Man) who track a foul-mouthed,
gun-toting Ronald McDonald who has taken
Big Boy hostage. Included for its clever
use of the trademark parody defense (see my
SLAW.ca post
here on this movie and its implications
for trademark parody). Read a short review
here from Wired.com.
My Cousin Vinny (1992).
Starring Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei (and Fred
Gwynne as the Judge). A funny courtroom drama
in which a bumbling and newly-called New York
lawyer (played by Pesci) is asked by his
nephew and his nephew's friend to save them
from wrongful murder charges in a "redneck"
Alabama court system. Lots of good laughs as
the Pesci character brings his "northern"
street smarts to the South. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 out of 4 stars).
Other People's Money
(1991). Directed by Norman Jewison and
starring Danny DeVito as a corporate raider
and Gregory Peck as the patriarch of the
company targeted by Danny DeVito. Penelope Ann
Miller plays a lawyer, the daughter of the
wife of Gregory Peck, who tangles with Danny
DeVito's character regarding ownership and
survival of the company. See Roger Ebert's 3.5
star review
here.
Trial and Error
(1997). A fairly silly comedy in which Michael
Richards, who plays an actor, agrees to step
in and "act" in place of his friend, a lawyer
played by Jeff Daniels, who is sick/hungover
and cannot appear in court. Hilarity ensues
since, as can be imagined, the Michael
Richards character of course knows nothing of
trial procedure or the law. Roger Ebert's 3
star review is
here.
Two Weeks' Notice
(2002). A fairly silly romantic comedy / drama
in which Sandra Bullock, as a Harvard
law-trained lawyer and environmental protester
ends up working as in-house counsel for a real
estate developer played by Hugh Grant who
hires Bullock's character on the promise to
not demolish several local landmarks. Hugh
Grant turns out to be a difficult boss causing
Bullock to quit, giving her "two weeks'
notice" after which time Hugh Grant's
character only realizes how important she was
in his life. Roger Ebert gave the film a
generous
3 star review.
The
War of the Roses (1989).
Starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and
Danny DeVito as the lawyer. Filmed in Toronto,
the movie producers rented law books from the
Bora Laskin Law Library to use in the scenes
in the lawyer's office. The movie purportedly
is a fictional story based on the life of
Martha Stewart's messy divorce. Funny scenes
throughout. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
Win Win (2011).
Starring Paul Giamatti as small-town lawyer
Mike Flaherty, a volunteer high school
wrestling coach whose practice is struggling.
Although arguably following outside the scope
of my definition of law-related movies, the
story and acting are fresh and presents the
struggles of a solo practitioner while
avoiding stereotypes of lawyers (for the most
part). There is a law-related ethical dilemma
the character is forced to face as he grapples
with family duties and mentoring a young
student wrestler. Great supporting
performances by Amy Ryan as his wife, and by
Jeffrey Tambor and Bobby Cannavale as his
friends. Read Roger Ebert's 3-star review
here.
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