From my favorite movies..

Excellent but underrated film

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I don't have read a single novel from this author so i can't interpret his work but it's the second adaptation i watch after « Christmas with the Kranks » and i feel that he silently kicks the American society in the balls ! So after denouncing Christmas conformism and neighbors pressure, here he explains the prestige of law firms. When all other movies stop at their brilliant career and consider them as wealthy saints, those lawyers are just crooks, criminals, killers who knows how to lure and trap partners into their scheme ! So for sure it's original and in a way, the firm has offer the same devilish promise of a prestigious career than Al offers Keanu in the « devil's advocate ». The cast is really prestigious from always convincing Cruise to old tutor Gene, to dark Harris. Even the less important parts are well filled with « Deep throat », Don Sorvino, Busey and for sure Holly Hunter ! At first, you expect that she has very limited screen time but finally she becomes an essential player and she really gives originality and punch to a character would could have been transparent. The movie offers many outdoors locations as well and the sets are really beautiful (the firm building for example) and Pollack with his old style doesn't give us headaches with violent editing ! However 148 minutes are maybe too long and I don't have grasp the legal loophole that Cruise uses

Anyone who has experienced poverty or hardship in their early life never forgets the experience and always retains a certain element of insecurity about wealth, regardless of how much financial success they later achieve. In "The Firm", it's this phenomenon that essentially drives a brilliant young law student to ignore numerous offers of career-enhancing opportunities from a number of prestigious big city law firms to, instead, join a small Memphis partnership who offer him a fantastic remuneration package. Unfortunately, what follows, perfectly illustrates the wisdom of the old adage that "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is".Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) is the Harvard Law School graduate from a poor background whose exceptional academic achievements lead to him being head-hunted by "Berdini, Lambert & Locke". The firm offer him a huge salary, a low-interest mortgage, a Mercedes and the repayment of his student loans and in return, Mitch readily agrees to join them. After relocating to Memphis with his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), he quickly settles into the practice and regularly works long hours. Initially, he's comfortable with the firm's family ethos and doesn't share Abby's unease about some of the advice she receives such as "the firm encourages children" etc. A little later, however, when he realises that a high percentage of the firm's work is related to the activities of the Mob and a couple of the firm's lawyers suddenly die in mysterious circumstances, he gets the strong feeling that something sinister is going on.Mitch's suspicions are confirmed when he gets approached by the director of the FBI and Agent Wayne Tarrance (Ed Harris) who inform him about the firm's criminal and money-laundering activities. They want Mitch to supply them with information and documents to be used as evidence to bring his employers to justice and add that if he doesn't co-operate, things will be made very difficult for his brother who's in jail facing a manslaughter charge. They also emphasise that Mitch effectively doesn't have any choice in the matter because no partner has ever left the firm alive and if he simply decides to stay with the firm, he could face 20 years in prison when they go down, as they inevitably will.Mitch knows it would be impossible to pass on the documents that the FBI want without breaching the confidence of his legitimate clients and taking that action would inevitably lead to the loss of his licence to practice law. He therefore realises that in order to meet their demands without losing his career, making his brother's parlous situation worse or winding up dead at the hands of his ruthless employers (or the Mob), he needs to devise an imaginative plan to get out of the trap he's in. When he then discovers that the firm have routinely been over-billing clients for some considerable time, he starts to see an opportunity to formulate just such a plan but, of course, its success is by no means guaranteed.Based on John Grisham's bestselling novel, this glossy thriller was understandably a huge box-office success. It's intriguing, tense and highly entertaining and features a whole collection of great performances from its star-studded cast. Surprisingly though, it's Gary Busey, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris and Holly Hunter that really bring the screen to life in their relatively small parts while Tom Cruise and Jeanne Tripplehorn also do well in their starring roles.

I am a huge John Grisham fan, but I never cared much for The Firm. I finally decided to watch it as part of a paper for my film class, because as the first adaptation of a Grisham novel, it was important to the paper, but I still can't explain why it was the first novel they decided to turn into a movie. The story follows a younger lawyer who is graduating at the top of his Harvard Law class. As the offers pour in, he has a tough decision to make, and finally settles on a small Nashville firm, that has made him an offer that is too good to be true. As he starts working for The Firm, Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) comes to realize that their only client is an organized crime syndicate and he's trapped inside. Eventually, the FBI comes to McDeere and tries to recruit him as a whistle blower, and his response is somewhat unorthodox. What I never understood about this story is why McDeere went to the lengths he did. He could have achieved the same outcome by simply complying with one side or the other. He jumps through all these hoops and does all these secretive things in order to achieve the same outcome. To me, this always made the second half of the book and film to be pretty much pointless. Tom Cruise stars and shines in the type of role that defined his early career. At this point in his career, if Tom Cruise is not starring as a dark loner or a sci-fi action hero, there isn't any point to watching his movies, but back in the early 90s he really had that special spark that has garnered him the reputation he has today. Cruise was paired with Gene Hackman, making the perfect dynamic of the old star, turning things over to the new. It was a bold move that didn't work out so well for the Indiana Jones franchise, but here it was one of the most interesting things about this film. The acting is terrific and a Grisham film is always very clever and well written, but as I said I've never been a fan of The Firm. The second half of the story just doesn't sit right with me and I'll continue to say it no matter how good the cast is.

I am not impressed with Tom Cruise as an actor, but this is one movie I MIGHT watch again, due to the seriously gifted cast, including Miss Tripplehorn. there is enough tension in the plot to show what could happen in a thoroughly immoral, power hungry business. I can truthfully say that virtually everything I know of Memphis, aside from the home of Elvis, I learned from this film. My thanks to those in charge of such details. Everything, I know of Memphis, aside from Graceland, I learned from this film .Again My thanks to those in charge of such details. Many of us will never be able to travel to all the places we would love to see.I have noted this fact in previous reviews. Please give us more location details. It is our armchair tour guide.