Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | April 02, 2005 | | Summary | A Family Drama Set in a Courtroom | Content
 | There are really two kinds of lawyer films out there; the kind that is about the trial and the kind that is about the lawyers; this film is about the lawyers and the family drama of a father and daughter pitted against each other in a class action lawsuit. The film is well constructed and acted, though there is the occasional corny dialoge in the father-daughter scenes that could have been written much stronger.
The father (played by Gene Hackman) is a crusading support-the-little-guy type, but he is not without his warts and particularly not without the consequences of his giant ego. Hackman is perfect in this role and gives his character the depth it deserves. Mary Elizabeth Masterantonio plays the daughter and is really the center of the film since it is her evolution more than Hackman's that drives the plot. She more than holds her own against a much more experienced actor and gives the film credibility.
There are a few witty remarks in the film but I can't say that the dialogue crackles; since this is not an action film, the dialogue is how the film moves along, so that's a shame. But the plot is enthralling and takes a few unexpected twists at the end; combined with the solid cast (this was shot so long ago that Fred Dalton Thompson was not yet a senator and Lawrence Fishbourne is listed as Larry) it makes the film engaging and certainly worth the low price of this DVD.
The DVD itself is disappointing and carries no special features to speak of (trailers for this film and other movies DO NOT count as special features, at least in my opinion). The only reason to get the DVD versus the tape is that it's easier to find and will hold up better over time.
The bottom line is that this is a solid, well acted film whose David versus Goliath, Inc theme rings even more true in the post-Enron universe than it did when the film first came out. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 21, 2005 | | Summary | Family Court | Content
| The inherent drama of a court of law and a trial is a staple of film and television. Sometimes the setting is handled with stunning results, as 12 Angry Men and To Kill A Mockingbird, and sometimes the court room is not used as effectively. Class Action fits into that latter catagory, but is still highly watchable, thanks to two great performances.
The only thing Jedediah Tucker Ward (Gene Hackman) and his daughter (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) have in common is the law. Only the matriarch of the Ward family, Estelle (Joanna Merlin), has been able to mediate the strained father/daughter relationship. Equally brilliant, equally driven, the two are further tested, when they find their longtime personal battle takes a new form, as each represent opposing sides in a corporate class action lawsuit. The trial forces father and daughter to decide between justice over victory.
What ultimately keeps Class Action from being a great film is the script by Carolyn Shelby, Christopher Ames and Samantha Shad. While overall, it's not bad, there are times when the story has very TV movie of the week feel to it, especially, when trying to focus on the family dynamic. Fortunately though, both Hackman and Mastrantonio (whom I can take or leave) rise above the contrived. Director Michael Apted and the late great cinematographer Conrad L. Hall (American Beauty, Road To Perdition) make sure things look good, and that's not always easy to do with the limitations of a courtroom set. Eagle-eyed credit watchers will note actor Laurence Fishburne as Jeb's assistant Nick Holbrook in a small role.
The DVD has no extras. Though not really a suprise, an Apted commentary would be interesting...As a Hackman fan, the film is still a must see. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 28, 2004 | | Summary | Two great actors giving two great performances | Content
| It's a strange thing about the coming attractions trailers they show before a movie comes out. Most of them promise more than the movie delivers. Michael Apted's "Class Action" is an exception; the trailer seems to promise a formula plot - a father and his daughter, both lawyers, on opposing sides in court, trading legal arguments and cliches. The movie is indeed about the father and the daughter, but in ways we didn't anticipate, with surprising intelligence and empathy.
The movie stars Gene Hackman as an aging radical who shaped his politics in the 1950s (he proposed to his wife after spotting her mouthing "McCarthy is a weasel" in the gallery during the Army-McCarthy hearings). He specializes in defending underdogs and attacking the establishment. His daughter, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, is a child of more materialist decades, and wants to become a partner in a big corporate law firm. Father and daughter find themselves on opposing sides in a case involving a giant automaker whose 1985 wagons have an unfortunate tendency to explode.
If that were all there was to the screenplay, "Class Action" would no doubt march down familiar corridors worn smooth by countless other movies about the law. But this is a very particular movie, where the details about the lawsuit are secondary to an ethical struggle that takes place between father and daughter. He believes she has sold out to heartless big business. She believes he is a showboating hypocrite who stuck up for the little guy, all right, but mostly for self-aggrandizement, while meanwhile he was cheating on her mother and discarding former clients who needed him.
Both of them are right, and both of them are flawed, and the movie is about the inexact process by which both characters are able to forgive, and change. That's what's interesting about it - that, and the surprising power of the performances, not only from the leads but also from Joanna Merlin as Hackman's wife, who long ago made her accommodation with his faults; Donald Moffat, as the taciturn, utterly pragmatic head of the giant law firm; Jan Rubes as an aging engineer who is sure he remembers all the important things, and Colin Friels as a corporate lawyer who is both Mastrantonio's supervisor and her lover. Hackman is wonderful (one is tempted to add "of course"). But Mastrantonio is really at the center of the film, and supports it with fierce energy. She has quiet authority and projects both her character's strong self-image and deepest resentments; this is a grown-up portrait of a woman still growing up.
The screenplay by Carolyn Shelby, Christopher Ames and Samantha Shad contains dialogue scenes so well-heard and written it's hard to believe this is a Hollywood movie, with Hollywood's tendency to have characters underline every emotion so the audience won't have to listen so carefully. There's a scene, for example, where father and daughter are preparing dinner together, and their civility gradually collapses into anger and tearful recrimination.
And other scenes, deliberately of few words, in which lawyers try to say things without saying them - to imply what must be done, without being trapped into actually issuing unethical orders.
The details involving the exploding gas tanks are, in a way, the least important parts of the film, although they're sure to gladden Ralph Nader. What I liked best was the way the whole legal case and all of its twists and turns were used to force the Hackman and Mastrantonio characters into learning things about themselves.
Apted is a director whose films have often been about people in a process of self-discovery (his credits include "Coal Miner's Daughter," "Continental Divide," "Gorillas in the Mist" and the great continuing documentary "28 Up"), and that's what this film is really about, and why it's so much more interesting than the ads might have you believe.
|
| Rating | | | Date | December 09, 2004 | | Summary | Excellent Courtroom Drama | Content
| Gene Hackman and Mary Mastrantonio are great in this class action case involving Argo, and automobile manufacturer. In this case a car manufacturer tries to hide a defective wiring circuit that can cause a car to explode. Interesting that here Hackman is fighting for the little guy, while in "Runaway Jury" he was the corporate lawyer. I am glad they are finally releasing Class Action on DVD February 1, 2005. Why they didn't before that is beyond all of us familiar with the movie.
Hackman and Mastrantonio play father and daughter. This accident case threatens to split them even further than they were because of her fathers devotion to his cause. Mastrantonio is remarkable as a daughter who can't forgive her father for hurting her mother. Great drama and some good court scenes make this well worth buying. Lawrence Fishburne is excellent as always. His performance as an attorney is superb. I picked this up for under seven dollars at the local brick and mortar. I highly recommend it. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 15, 2004 | | Summary | Very enjoyable & highly underrated. Where is the DVD? | Content
| This is a very enjoyable movie, and one of the best in the legal drama genre. Gene Hackman is typically brilliant, mixing humor and anger in the most believable and human way. This was the first time I saw Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who proves herself a very capable actress, never once seeming overpowered by Hackman. She's also stunningingly beautiful (which has nothing to do with acting, but it doesn't hurt). Laurence Fishburn also puts in a powerful supporting role, as does the city of San Francisco, which always looks beautiful and inviting on film and this is no exception. The only thing missing is a DVD version. It's almost become a cliche to ask, with all the garbage that's released on DVD, how can so many great movies languish for so long on VHS, utterly ignored by the studios? Who knows. But if you still own a VCR, this movie is highly recommended. |
|
