Michael Clayton (2007)

"The Truth Can Be Adjusted"A law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit. REVIEWIt's George Clooney's turn to take on corporate bigwigs who are determined to give cancer to all the decent folk living out in America's heartlands. He plays Michael Clayton, fixer for a big time law firm acting as a defendant in a class action law suit leveled at the cancer-causing conglomerate. When his good friend and the lead attorney assigned to building the defense (Tom Wilkinson, excellent) goes off his rocker and starts babbling about the evils of what he's been aiding and abetting, and even begins to help the prosecution with its case, Michael is called in to "fix" the situation. But he of course suffers a crisis of conscience when it turns out that his crazy friend is the only sane person around, and it becomes his job to make sure the corporation doesn't get away with its dastardly deeds."Michael Clayton" is well acted and written, but it's awfully dour and gloomy. Every movie like this has a big payoff scene at the end, where our hero gets to tell off the corporate jerk to the rousing applause of the audience ("Erin Brockovich" consisted of nothing but scenes like that), and this movie is no exception. However, the one here is relatively muted, and we're not allowed to enjoy it for long. The final shot of the film is of Michael's face driving away from the big showdown in a cab, and it's not wearing an expression of triumph. It's the face of a man who's been worn out by the injustice of life, and I don't know that I've ever seen Clooney look worse on screen. The film suggests that facing the evils of the world and doing the right thing can still hollow you out inside. This approach makes the movie better than a film like "Erin Brockovich," but it may disappoint people who come into it thinking they're going to get to enjoy two hours of George Clooney telling people what's what.