"The Firm" 1993

“The Firm”

Bill DeVasher: Not just screwing, Mitch. All sorts of intimate acts, oral and whatnot, that can be particularly hard for a trusting wife to forgive and IMPOSSIBLE to forget.

Avery Tolar: How'd you find that out?
Bill DeVasher: What do you think I am around here, a f**king night watchman?
Avery Tolar: I get confused sometimes.
Bill DeVasher: Well, don't.

There is so much to love about a movie with my favorite diabetic, Wilford Brimley, as a bad guy. I can’t see him on those commercials for diabetic testing supplies without hearing these lines in my head.

This movie relies on a lot of luck and too many coincidences. It has a different ending than the book. And it stars Tom Cruise. I know, my second Tom Cruise movie in a week, but he’s been on cable. I’m only human.

Gene Hackman is great in this movie. He’s really good in almost everything. But I am pretty sure he doesn’t manage his money very well. He shows up in a lot of movies that seem a little below his pay grade. At least I hope he’s just doing it for the money.

Jeanne Tripplehorn, while pretty good in her role, seems a little old for the part. She doesn’t seem like a mid-twenties newlywed.

Holly Hunter is awesome. She was nominated for best supporting actress for this role. She lost to her “Piano” costar, Anna Paquin, but she took home best actress for her role in the same movie. So she had a good night.

Gary Busey was great. This movie is five years before his motorcycle accident and I still miss pre-accident Gary Busey. I watched his season of the “Celebrity Apprentice” and am still really sad about what has happened to this talented guy. It is a loss.

Ed Harris is great at angry. He gets to do a lot of that here.

Tom Cruise is his usual. He runs, he sweats, he breathes hard. He has to outwit the bad guys, jump out of a building and admit to sleeping with a girl on the beach. How about that? He is away from home one night. All it takes is a sprained ankle and he is doing the horizontal bop with a girl whose name he doesn’t catch. If they hadn’t set him up as madly in love with his wife I might buy it. But no, it kind of stinks.

When my husband and I watch this movie we love to point out the obvious exposition. This movie loves to subtly set up future events. Like the cotton truck. Mitch McDeere happens to walk by when two guys are arguing about the truck being parked in that alley EVERY DAY! Next thing you know, Mitch has a nice soft landing when he escapes. Wow!

I love the southern accents. It has Memphis and Elvis. Not the real one, but a good one. If it’s on I watch it. It is what I like to call a safety movie. If there is nothing else on that I’d rather see, it is a good way to pass the time.