The Verdict (Sidney Lumet, 1982)

VAGUE SPOILERS

 

The Mr. asked me why I would keep the digital file of The Verdict that I procured to watch this feted middlebrow product. And that's as good a summation as any about our feelings for this extremely okay film - far from a masterpiece but not bad enough to get enraged about or make fun of. The first half is an unforgiving drag. Paul Newman plays an alcoholic lawyer who takes on a malpractice case that is sure to be settled out of court. The case centers on a comatose woman whom Newman observes several times in a hospital. During one visit, he has an unconvincing epiphany (signified by staring at her longer than previously) and decides to try the case for more money. The trial picks up the pace. But at 75 minutes into the film, it comes far too late. Lumet and screenwriter David Mamet perform a twist on the trope of the younger female foil (Charlotte Rampling) improbably falling for the older loser male (Newman). But no matter how duplicitous this femme fatale turns out to be, it's still no fun watching Newman smack the shit out of her. And despite the fact that the film does not end with the formation of the heterosexual couple, it's still so competent, so blandly well-done that it forces one to ponder saving 3.12GB on an external hard drive by junking it altogether. 

Grade: B