'Lincoln Lawyer'review: Matthew McConaughey and Marisa Tomei drown in outlandish plot

WithMatthew McConaughey,Marisa Tomei,Ryan Phillippe. An L.A. attorney works from his car and takes on a high-profile case. Director:Brad Furman(1:59). R: Violence, sexual content, language. At area theaters.

There's a reason potboiler paperbacks don't make good movies— there's too much outlandish plot, even for Hollywood.

Yes,John Grishamtranslates, but judging from"The Lincoln Lawyer,"adapted from a best-selling series byMichael Connelly, similar writers likeJonathan KellermanandDavid Baldaccibetter keep their focus on the page and not the screen.

Matthew McConaughey is Michael (Mick) Haller, an almost-sleazyLos Angelesattorney who cruises the streets in his mobile office— aLincoln Town Car— and uses his honey-dripped Southern twang to (supposedly) charm all factions of the legal system.

Haller has a sexy ex-wife (Marisa Tomei) in the DA's office, but he's most adept at working the lower levels of the courts. His tit-for-tat friendship with a bail bondsman (John Leguizamo) brings him his latest case: A richBeverly Hillsslimeball (Ryan Phillippe) on trial for assault and battery.

But after signing on to defend the accused, Mick and his shaggy investigator, Frank (William H. Macy, doing his best to be interesting), find out some things. The victim is a prostitute, the slimeball has a link to an earlier case, and someone's broken into Mick's house and stolen his antique gun.

Eventually, it all shakes down, thanks to Mick's connections— he's likeJim Rockford, only with abs. 

In the last decade, the best outlets for McConaughey's know-it-all suavity have been high-camp larks like"Fool's Gold"and"Sahara."

Here, he's a bad-boy litigator, but that's all Mick is about. When he and Tomei flirt or have a conversation about their relationship, they share a line or two that sounds like English before they have to lapse back into the wanna-be-sassy legalese so familiar from the forensics and criminology lingo of TV shows.

Director Brad Furman presides over this failure. He opts for flashbacks showing the way the big crime could have happened, as in a 1970sAgatha Christie-based mystery, and the movie deflates into one ridiculous scene after another.

And why, exactly, does Mick only work out of a car, and not an office? Hey,"The Lincoln Lawyer"might be accused of many things, but not that it's missing a gimmick.

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