The Devil's Advocate . Tucson Weekly . 11-03-97

The Devil's Advocate

DIRECTED BY: Taylor Hackford

REVIEWED: 11-03-97

This pile of Faustian fluff doesn't win any points for subtlety--but then again, what movie about Satanic lawyers does? Al Pacino plays the seductive, know-it-all head of a law firm that specializes in defending corporate evildoers; Keanu Reeves plays the firm's latest acquisition, a hotshot lawyer whose virtuous conscience is only exceeded by his vanity about having a perfect trial record. It takes Reeves a full two-and-a-half hours to figure out that Beelzebub's on his side of the Bar, though his wife, played appealingly by Charlize Theron (she's the sole bright spot in the cast), catches on right away. In some parallel universe, this is a shrewd, scary movie, with disturbing images of murder, materialism, and women whose faces turn demonic moments after they expose their breasts. In this universe, The Devil's Advocate is uproariously bad in much the same way as Showgirls: It's mindlessly exploitative, filled with gaudy set design, and bursting at the seams with overacting. How can you hate it? The funniest thing about the movie is that it's about Pacino's attempt to seize control of Reeves' soul, yet it's obvious from the dude's performance that he doesn't have one.

--Woodruff

Full Length Reviews
The Devil's Advocate
The Devil's Advocate
The Devil's Advocate
The Devil's Advocate

Capsule Reviews
The Devil's Advocate
The Devil's Advocate

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Dolores Claiborne

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