THE CLIENT (Directed by Joel Schumacher. Starring Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Renfro)

After two running lawyer movies, the latest John Grisham adaption lets the lawyer stay still and gets a kid to do all the running about. The result is more efficient entertainment than either The Firm or The Pelican Brief, but it is still a cheesy, formula yarn with too many characters and not enough substance. The titular client is an 11 year old boy who witnessed the suicide of a Mafia lawyer and becomes the target of both the mob and the FBI. Tommy Lee Jones, currently America’s favourite supporting actor, essentially reprises his fugitive role as an acerbic, implaccable lawman while Susan Sarandon is the show-stealing lawyer, milking the part for emotion as an ex-alcoholic seeking redemption in her client. Driven efficiently along by the inevitable concern you feel for a child in peril, The Client shamelessly manipulates emotions but is crucially lacking in either subtlety or intelligence. This is the kind of B-movie tale that makes Pulp Fiction look like Shakespeare.