JOHN GRISHOLM'S THE RAINMAKER

INTRODUCTION: John Grisholm's The Rainmaker, JOHN GRISHOLM'S The Rain Maker, when the fuck did John Grisholm become more important than Francis Ford Coppola! OK it was probably about the time that Grisholm was making "The Firm", "The Client" & "The Pelican Brief" and Coppola was making "Jack" but that's not the issue here. 

The issue here is the importance of the writer in the Hollywood power Structure. There is an old joke about the actress who sleeps with the writer to get a part, the humour coming from the fact that traditionally the writer has no power whatsoever, but this is starting to change with the rise of a new breed of writer - Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy and Kevin Williamson spring to mind along of course with John Grisholm. This seems fair enough as the writer has always struck me as the talented one in the movie process, a director just tells people where to stand, a producer just arranges the money and all the actors have to do is read out loud, something that was actually discouraged at my school. 

But still this is Coppola, the man who made "The Godfather", "Apocalypse Now" and "The Conversation" and yet he finds himself playing second fiddle to the writer once again, don't forget "Bram Stoker's Dracula". 

SYNOPSIS: Idealistic hot shot young lawyer goes up against a corrupt corporation and wins (well, what were you expecting from a Grisholm movie?). 

REVIEW: This is a film of three intertwined plots, linked by the young lawyer Baylor (Damon), each of them less interesting than the last. Main plot: Baylor agrees to represent a dying kid, Donny-Ray Black, whose insurance company won't pay for the necessary op. Romantic sub-plot: Baylor falls for battered wife Kelly (Danes) and arranges her divorce. Unnecessary third subplot: Baylor's landlady Miss Birdie wishes to cut her children out of her will. 

While these plots tied together reasonably well in the book they never really seem to connect in the film. This is doubtless due to the purging of the first section of the book, in which Baylor loses his job, his house and is pursued by the police. The Miss Birdie subplot provided Baylor with the first step back to success in the book, but in the film it is a waste of time and is ultimately just dropped. The Kelly Riker subplot, as well as providing the love interest in the book, also provided a stunning conclusion which Coppola has decided to move forward to avoid detracting from the conclusion of the Donny-Ray Black plot, which is a shame because this is by far the weakest of the three plots. Despite Coppola's best attempts to re-write the story to weaken Baylor's case the eventual outcome is never in doubt. 

Obviously realising the weakness of his plot Coppola turns to his cast to rescue the picture, casting hot young actors Damon and Danes in the lead roles, with veteran character actor Voight there to provide the experienced support they need, and a dizzying array of guest stars in minor roles including Mikey Rourke, Danny DeVito, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, Roy Scheider & Sidney Poitier (in an uncredited performance that led "Sight & Sound" to mistake him for Danny Glover!). 

What we have here is an unfortunate collision of two talents, Grisholm and Coppola, too disparate to work together. Overall a disappointing use of 12,196 feet of film (did I mention that I'd bought "Sight and Sound" this month, amazing what you can discover). 

A few laughs, some fine acting, but nothing of any substance. 

Mutts Rating: *** 

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