Jared's Pick - Movie Reviews: A Civil Action

A Civil Action

The venerable Wall Street journal is amazingly blind to anything that goes on in the world that isn't business-related. Hell, on the day of Clinton's impeachment, the WSJ ran a cover story on G.E.'s overseas distribution channels, with the impeachment story neatly tucked into a sidebar. As far as the WSJ is concerned, the Earth revolves around corporations, profits, mergers and acquisitions, and everything else can go hang. Certainly, they don't deign to pay attention to Hollywood's frivolous offerings.

So it was surprising and more than a little amusing to see that the WSJ was shocked, shocked to learn that A Civil Action, a true story about a personal injury lawyer who took on two polluting corporations, actually names names when indicting these evildoers.

Peter Pan peanut butter! Tropicana! Samsonite! Platex! All these products are distributed by Beatrice Foods, a company responsible for dumping toxic waste in Woburn, Massachusetts' water supply, giving children terminal cancer and destroying families. Imagine the gall of A Civil Action to dredge up these minor peccadilloes. Funny how product placement in films gets no press (remember the 90-minute Mercedes and Timberland commercial that was The Lost World?), but negative publicity is taboo.

Well, Beatrice Foods wasn't happy about the negative publicity first time around, either. John Travolta plays Jan Schlichtmann, the callous, show-me-the-money Boston attorney who decides to try the case against Beatrice when he discovers that there could be some serious cash in it for him. In the best Hollywood tradition (which is why this based-on-a-true story made it to film), Jan undergoes a moral reevaluation and begins to defend the citizens of Woburn not out of greed, but out of a newly-awakened need to Fight For Justice.

The movie is at its best when it discusses the hard-boiled truths, the witness coaching, logistical maneuvering and countless delays of the legal system. This is not a feel-good, melodramatic Grisham courtroom drama - we learn that in personal injury cases, a strategic defense is preferable to honesty (as if that were news), and that a rich adult white male is worth more in settlement than a poor black child. Again, a revelation.

Travolta is a bit faulty as Jan Schlichtmann; we believe he's a greedy slimeball at the beginning, but that he genuinely cares about the victims at the end is a bit harder to swallow - he seems to be doing it for pride rather than compassion. Fargo's William H. Macy is predictably excellent as Jan's stressed financial advisor, and Tony Shalhoub has proved yet again that just because he was on the sitcom "Wings" doesn't mean he isn't a damn fine dramatic actor. Speaking of which, Robert Duvall's phenomenal talent is in evidence as Beatrice's eccentric-but-brilliant attorney. His skills are somewhat wasted here, as I wanted to see more of his all-knowing, amusing character - it's more of a sketch than a full reading. (Please rent The Apostle for proof of his remarkable presence and ability.)

Though the acting is solid all around and the story is absorbing, A Civil Action falls a bit short. Hollywood is a weak, feeble institution bereft of creativity, dependant on old TV shows and "true stories" for scripts, as Patch Adams, At First Sight, and A Civil Action prove. Somehow, the words "based on a true story" are suppose to impress us and make movies more significant, but guess what? Just because it's true doesn't mean it's interesting.

Luckily, A Civil Action is interesting. It portrays the legal system as it actually is, has a refreshingly realistic ending, and it's always nice to see the companies who play fast and loose with trichloroethelyne get the shaft. But while anything that pisses off the WSJ is cool by me, Travolta's wooden performance in the second half of the film makes this a decent renter rather than an unqualified recommendation. Though better than most courtroom dramas, A Civil Action is still not going to rock your world.

- Jared O'Connor

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