A young boy who witnessed the suicide of a mafia lawyer hires an attorney to protect him when the District Attorney tries to use him to take down a mob family. The Client is unfortunately another Joel Schumacher film that is simply a waste of time, money and definitely talent since both Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon feel like back up characters for this little kid to be the main star. The villains were boring and just cartoony and even worse? the whole thing with the mafia lawyer killing himself? Was beyond stupid and cheesy for sure. (0/10)

12 year old Mark Sway and his younger brother Ricky witness a suicide: Ricky is shocked into catatonia. The suicide lawyer may have told Mark the location of a mob murder victim, so Mark is a possible target. Ambitious district attorney Roy Foltrigg wants to question Mark: aware that Foltrigg may not have his best interests at heart, Mark engages Reggie as his lawyer, but Reggie has her own problems.This is a good film: had it avoided the rather too obvious (and unnecessary) chase elements, it would have been a great film. Susan Sarandon's Reggie is human and believable, and Tommy Lee Jones' Foltrigg is clever, annoying, and funny - both are terrific performances.But the young Brad Renfro in his first performance is magnetic, and the film is at its best when he's running rings round the adults. His death at 25 and the downward spiral which led to it were absolutely tragic.

I remember this as a great movie by Sarandon (Dead Man Walking), who got an Oscar nomination out of her performance in a year of great movies, the best being, of course, Four Weddings and a Funeral.Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive, JFK) was super as the Rev. Roy, and the lovely and talented Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds", "Angels in America") was great as Mark's (Brad Renfro) mom. Anthony LaPaglia was just the embodiment of evil as Barry Muldano.The supporting cast reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood: J.T. Walsh, William H. Macy, Bradley Whitford, Anthony Edwards, Ossie Davis, and more.

Based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham, 'The Client', directed by Joel Schumacher, in an interesting thriller, that also packs in memorable performances by it's lead-cast.'The Client' tells the story of a eleven-year old boy, who, witnesses the suicide of a lawyer whose client is in the mob, and a female attorney, who, tries to protect him. Joel Schumacher's body of work is a mixed bag. However, 'The Client', can surely rank amongst his better works. He has handled a couple of sequences with ease. However, I would like to state, that, the writing loses pace in it's final 30-minutes. And thus, the desired impact gets distracted. If it had been better or should I say more crisper, this flick would've been a classic affair! Tony Pierce-Roberts's Cinematography is good. Editing is fine.Performance-Wise: As told before, the lead casts pack in memorable performances. Susan Sarandon is excellent as the female lawyer. Brad Renfro does a sincere job. Tommy Lee Jones is superb as the calculative U.S. Attorney. Mary-Louise Parker is good. J. T. Walsh is effective.On the whole, 'The Cilent' is A Good Film in all respects. Definitely worth a watch!