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The Devil's Advocate (1997)
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Reviews Counted: 43
Fresh: 27
Rotten:16
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 24 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Promising young lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) has never lost a case--even when his client is guilty. When Kevin is seduced away from his sleepy hometown in Florida to work for a flashy,... Promising young lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) has never lost a case--even when his client is guilty. When Kevin is seduced away from his sleepy hometown in Florida to work for a flashy, charming lawyer (Al Pacino, in a role he seems born to play), his mother (Judith Ivey) has reservations. But as he works his way up the corporate ladder, Kevin manages to put them aside, along with his wife's (Charlize Theron) needs and the stirrings of his conscience over knowingly defending the guilty. However, his vanity won't let him start losing now. As Kevin's career skyrockets, his neglected wife Mary Ann begins to see evil, violent visions. Hoping a visit from his mother will help, instead Kevin finds himself confronted with a secret his mother has never told him. As Mary Ann seemingly descends into madness, Kevin begins to suspect his boss may be much more than he seems, and he finds himself faced with a choice between saving his own life and saving his soul. Thought-provoking, inventive, and entertaining, director Taylor Hackford's film is reminiscent of psychological horror films like ROSEMARY'S BABY. Andrzej Bartkowiak's lush, innovative cinematography complements the smart script and dead-on acting. [More]
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones, Judith Ivey, Craig T. Nelson, Connie Nielsen, Tamara Tunie, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Debra Monk, Vyto Ruginis, Laura Harrington, Pamela Gray, Heather Matarazzo, Chris Bauer, Al D'Amato, Don King, Delroy Lindo
Director: Taylor Hackford
Director: Taylor Hackford
Composer: James Newton Howard
Story: Andrew Neiderman
Screenwriter: Jonathan Lemkin, Tony Gilroy
Producer: Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
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Reviews for The Devil's Advocate
This supremely silly supernatural potboiler is slickly entertaining for just under two hours and absolutely hilarious for 10 minutes near the end...
This is tongue-in-cheek, fun thriller and a variation on a classic theme -- would you sell your soul to gain the whole world?
Regrettably, an overblown finale and redundant trick ending undercut the mild subversiveness of what's gone before.
Great fun, with a mildly horrific edge, and a great portrayal of demonic glee by Al Pacino.
Charlize Theron makes an incredibly good impression in the role of a woman with deteriorating mental health.
Despite its dull first hour, The Devil's Advocate becomes an OK, recommendable film.
Despite a wooden performance by Keanu Reeves, this is still a thoroughly enjoyable film for those who enjoy an intelligent horror flick.
The worst thing about The Devil's Advocate is how it squanders the little chance that it had to be a truly creepy and engaging film.
A literate meditation on human weakness and a hipped-out horror movie all in one.
[Hackford] seems stuck in a private limbo, unable to decide whether he's making a special-effects flick or a pop-philosophical tract.
The movie's greatest strength is that it becomes more complex and rewarding as it goes along.
I could have sat in the parking lot eating room temperature cheese ravioli and had a better time. Three hours of my life were wasted.
Cackling and leering, Pacino puts on a great show, investing enough in his character to make him evil, but not so much that we think he's truly serious.
Although it's nice for a film to be ambitious, there is such a thing as overreaching.
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