The title role of “Michael Clayton” fits George Clooney like one of his character’s snug, well-tailored suits. Michael Clayton is a corporate “fixer,” the guy who comes in to clean up the really messy problems encountered by clients at his tony Manhattan law firm.
Clayton himself is in a peculiar spot with the firm: no longer young, he’s too valuable in his dirty-laundry job for the company to actually promote. He’s beginning to weary of his subterranean work, and he’s got money woes because of family and a nasty little gambling habit.
At this moment, Clayton is called in to baby-sit a prominent attorney (Tom Wilkinson) who has melted down after years of representing a loathsome corporation responsible for damaging the health of hundreds. Erratic and ranting, he’s apparently off his medication — or maybe hearing his conscience for the first time. Or both.
A billion dollars or so is at stake, so Clayton’s bosses at the law firm (Sydney Pollack) and corporation (Tilda Swinton) are counting on him to calm down their excitable lawyer. Easier said than done.
“Michael Clayton” is written and directed by Tony Gilroy, an experienced Hollywood screenwriter (he adapted the “Bourne” films) making his directing debut. Gilroy rolls this movie out with some of the cool precision of Alan Pakula’s 1970s classics, like “The Parallax View” or “All the President’s Men.”
I would describe this movie as brainy and mature, but I want people to see it. Suffice it to say that it spins a very compelling story, with characters that seem to have a life beyond the usual one-dimensional level of a thriller.
Clooney, who also helped produce the picture, is right in his groove. He gets to play to his suave persona, but he shows the panic beneath the veneer.
The cast is dotted with good folks, but Tom Wilkinson, who came to international prominence with “The Full Monty,” is in glorious form with a colorful, beautifully written role. It’s always annoying this time of year when reviewers begin to anoint every other performance as Oscar-worthy, but in Wilkinson’s case, a nomination is a lock.
Along with simply delivering the goods as an evening’s entertainment, “Michael Clayton” skillfully takes the temperature of the country in the first decade of the century, and finds the patient ailing. This is a crisp study of greed replacing good.
“Michael Clayton” HHH
Rated: R for violence, language.
Study of greed: The title character is a law-firm fixer (George Clooney) who runs into heavy water when an attorney (Tom Wilkinson) in a billion-dollar case begins to crack up. A cool, precise study of greed and conscience from writer-director Tony Gilroy, with a snug-fitting lead role for Clooney and a bravura turn by Wilkinson.
Now showing: Opens today at Pacific Place
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