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Season 1 – The Lincoln Lawyer

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David E. Kelley's adaptation of the The Lincoln Lawyer relies too much on quirk to paper over its lack of true novelty, but this is a reliable enough vehicle for fans of legal pulp.

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Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Mickey Haller

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I like movies about smart guys who are wise asses, and think their way out of tangles with criminals. I like courtroom scenes. I like big old cars. I like “The Lincoln Lawyer” because it involves all three, and because it matches Matthew McConaughey with a first-rate supporting cast, while so many thrillers these days are about a lone hero surrounded by special effects. People have words they actually say in this movie. After “ Battle: Los Angeles ,” that is a great relief.

Let's start with the big old car. It's a Lincoln, and a lawyer named Mick Haller (McConaughey) does most of his work out of the back seat. Apparently he drove it himself until he was socked with a DUI; given how much he drinks in the film, it's amazing he remembered where he parked it. Now he has a chauffeur ( Laurence Mason ) who ferries him around to the Los Angeles dealers, hookers, bagmen and low-lifes who are his clientele. Mick's specialty is getting people off, sometimes in a perfectly legal way.

There were decades in the movies when heroes drove new cars, unless it was a period picture. Car makers used to pay for product placement. We saw Mustangs, GTOs, Chargers. But in recent years, action and thriller heroes have driven mostly classic cars, or oddballs like Hummers. The reason for this is obvious: Modern cars all look mostly the same, and none of them look heroic. Can you imagine James Bond in a Camry? My Ford Fusion gets good mileage, but Mick Haller would just look silly doing business out of the back seat. The only new cars still popular in movies are big black SUVs with tinted windows, which usually prowl in packs.

Anyway, Haller is a street-wise defense attorney with connections who knows how to collect and invest prudent envelopes full of cash. So connected is this guy that a motorcycle gang materializes more or less when he needs one. One day a bondsman ( John Leguizamo ) comes to him with a higher-class client than usual. Louis Roulet ( Ryan Phillippe ) is a rich kid from Beverly Hills accused of beating up a woman. He's clean-cut, looks Mick in the eyes, seriously insists he is innocent and wants a trial to prove it.

Mick senses there is something fishy. So do I. If Roulet has unlimited funds and really is innocent, why is he hiring a guy who works out of the back seat of a car? I've seen a lot of crime movies and read my Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. I know, even if Mick doesn't, that he's being used in some way.

Let's not get into the details. Details are interchangeable in movies like this. What you want is a laconic wise guy in the lead, and McConaughey does a nice line in those. You need a good dame in the picture. Marisa Tomei plays his ex-wife, courtroom opponent and (still) friend. When Tomei walks into a movie, it's like the Queen came into the room. I want to stand up. I know why Lady Gaga wants Marisa to play her in a biopic. It's not because they look like sisters. It's because every woman, and many men, would love to have a smile like Marisa Tomei's.

We also meet Mick's opposing attorney ( Josh Lucas ); a former client he plea-bargained into prison ( Michael Pena ); a cop ( Bryan Cranston ) who considers him a shyster and, most valuable, Mick's private investigator ( William H. Macy ). The P.I. role isn't very big, but Macy makes it distinctive; he brings it a quirky familiarity that creates a history between the two men without a lot of setup. You care for the hard-working sap.

All of this comes together in a satisfactory way. It isn't brilliant, it's far from foolproof, and the second appearance of the motorcycle gang technically qualifies, I think, as a miracle. The Law of Seemingly Unnecessary Characters comes nicely into play as events from the present turn out to be connected to the past. I did feel undercut by the movie's final revelation — which is, let's face it, completely arbitrary. The plotting seems like half-realized stabs in various directions made familiar by other crime stories. But for what it is, “The Lincoln Lawyer” is workmanlike, engagingly acted and entertaining.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Rated R for some violence, sexual content and language

119 minutes

Marisa Tomei as Maggie

Frances Fisher as Mary

John Leguizamo as Val

Bob Gunton as Cecil

Josh Lucas as Ted

Bryan Cranston as Det. Lankford

Michael Pena as Jesus

Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller

Ryan Phillippe as Louis

William H. Macy as Frank

John Romano

Directed by

Brad Furman

Based on the novel by

Michael Connelly

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The Lincoln Lawyer

A lawyer defending a wealthy man begins to believe his client is guilty of more than just one crime. A lawyer defending a wealthy man begins to believe his client is guilty of more than just one crime. A lawyer defending a wealthy man begins to believe his client is guilty of more than just one crime.

Brad Furman
John Romano
Michael Connelly
Matthew McConaughey
Marisa Tomei
Ryan Phillippe
324 User reviews
284 Critic reviews
63 Metascore
1 nomination

Mick Haller

Maggie McPherson

Louis Roulet

Frank Levin

Val Valenzuela

Jesus Martinez

Cecil Dobbs

Mary Windsor

Detective Lankford

Eddie Vogel

Reggie Campo

(as Katherine Moennig)

Detective Kurlen

Detective Sobel
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

Trivia Michael Connelly wanted Matthew McConaughey for the role of Mickey based on his performance in Tropic Thunder (2008) .
Goofs They mention early in the movie that Louis is apprehended by the two gay guys (Reggie's neighbors). Neither the prosecution nor the defense calls them to the stand as witnesses.

Mick Haller : I checked the list of people I trust and your name ain't on it.

Connections Featured in Conan: The Double-Fudging of Vanessa Del Rio (2011)
Soundtracks Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City Written by Michael Alan Price and Dan Walsh Performed by Bobby Bland (as Bobby 'Blue' Bland) Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 324

napierslogs
Mar 23, 2011
How long is The Lincoln Lawyer? Powered by Alexa
There are five "Mickey Haller aka The Lincoln Lawyer" books. Why was there never a sequel made to this movie?
What song is playing when Maggie and Mick make love?
March 18, 2011 (United States)
United States
Nhân Danh Công Lý
3104 Minnesota Street, Los Angeles, California, USA (Mick Haller's House)
Lionsgate Films
Lakeshore Entertainment
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$40,000,000 (estimated)
$58,009,200
$13,206,453
Mar 20, 2011
$86,752,352

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 58 minutes
Dolby Digital
Dolby Surround 7.1
Dolby Atmos

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5 reasons why the lincoln lawyer was the perfect film to kick off the mcconaissance, a decade after its release, we look at the oscar-winning actor's filmography and tomatometer data to determine why it's so important his character's name began with an "m." no, really..

TAGGED AS: movies

In the waning days of the winter season in March 2011, the Matthew McConaughey star vehicle The Lincoln Lawyer was released into theaters and opened with a credits sequence featuring a Lincoln Town Car traveling through the sun-drenched streets of Los Angeles. The end-of-winter release date and the bright LA streets kicked off a metaphorical heatwave for McConaughey’s career that led to blockbuster hits, R-rated gems, and a Best Actor Oscar at the 2014 Academy Awards.

After stumbling a bit in the films Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Surfer Dude , McConaughey surprised viewers by fully inhabiting the role of Michael “Mickey” Haller, a Defense Attorney (who never gets car sick) whose office is a Lincoln Town Car driven by a former client named Earl ( Laurence Mason ). Adapted from the 2005 book by Michael Connelly, the R-rated film collected $80 million worldwide on a $40 million budget and was adored by critics and audiences who declared it guilty of being an excellent courtroom thriller. McConaughey is in nearly every second of the Brad Furman -directed film, and the fly-on-the-wall camerawork full of pans and zooms by cinematographer Lukas Ettlin follows him around the streets of LA as he works on a high-profile case involving a rich maniac named Louis Roulet ( Ryan Phillippe ).

Later in 2011, the Richard Linklater -directed Bernie and William Freidkin -directed Killer Joe erased the bad taste of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and catapulted Failure to Launch out of people’s memories, ushering in the “McConaissance.” McConaughey followed these up with The Paperboy , Mud, Magic Mike , Dallas Buyers Club (which won him the aforementioned Oscar), The Wolf of Wall Street , True Detective , and the $700 million-grossing worldwide blockbuster Interstellar . In other words, McConaughey was doing “alright, alright, alright,” as everything he touched turned to gold (well, except for Gold , which, after Fool’s Gold and Sahara , proved he should avoid treasure hunting).

Here’s five reasons why The Lincoln Lawyer was the perfect film to put McConaughey on the expressway to the McConaissance.

1. McConaughey Is an Excellent Movie Lawyer

(Photo by ©Lionsgate courtesy Everett Collection)

While many consider McConaughey’s breakthrough performance in Dazed and Confused to be his launching pad, it was the 1996 film A Time to Kill that pushed his career into orbit. The John Grisham book adaptation featured McConaughey as a defense attorney for Carl Lee Hailey ( Samuel L. Jackson ), a man who murdered his daughter’s rapists and injured a cop in the process. The film killed it at the box office, bringing in $152 million worldwide, and McConaughey was awarded the “Most Promising Actor” distinction from the Chicago Film Critics Association. A year later, McConaughey starred in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad , which was based on the true story and 1987 book Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy . McConaughey once again played an attorney, this time defending a group of Africans who took control of the slave ship bound for the Americas that they were imprisoned on. Both films were Fresh successes, and proved he could excel in courtroom dramas.

After a decade of romantic comedies and Reign of Fire — which is awesome, by the way; McConaughey is swallowed whole by a dragon — The Lincoln Lawyer and Bernie saw his return to the courtroom and reminded everyone of his rakish charm and acting prowess. Mickey is in almost every frame of The Lincoln Lawyer , and you can tell McConaughey loves playing the character. Whether it’s his off-the-charts chemistry with Marisa Tomei or the way he sucks the life out of Ted Minton ( Josh Lucas ), the overmatched state’s attorney, McConaughey thrives in the slimy-yet-likable role. When Earl asks Mickey if he’ll still have a job after Mickey gets his license back (he lost it due to a DUI), Mickey says he’s already had it for three months; the two smile, say nothing, and continue on with their day. It’s at this exact moment you realize you actually kind of like Mickey, the divorced alcoholic attorney hated by so many because he’s so good. After 10 years, this scene still hits us every time.

2. The Film Gave Him His Edge Back and Allowed Him to Reset

If you saw Dazed and Confused as a teenager, McConaughey’s character Wooderson may have come across like a mythical figure. In hindsight, though, it probably dawned on you that Wooderson is an older dude who kind of creeps on high school girls, and you probably wouldn’t want him hanging out with your children or their friends. That’s the magic of McConaughey: he can find the charm in people you’d probably want nothing to do with otherwise. While he certainly earned his share of fans in rom-coms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Day s and The Wedding Planne r , many forget he got his start playing sleazy or mysterious figures in movies like Dazed and Confused, Lone Star , and Frailty .

McConaughey is at his best in films like Killer Joe, Magic Mike , and The Gentleman , when he can embody a square-jawed menace. His speech about the laws of the jungle in The Gentlemen and every second of his Killer Joe screentime are laced with unpredictable anger and a “don’t come at me” vibe that had been lost in movies like Surfer, Dude . In The Lincoln Lawyer, he’s a bad dad and a terrible husband, and he’s responsible for destroying an innocent man’s life ( Michael Peña ) after he refused to listen and fight for him. However, despite these glaring flaws, he’s still exceedingly likable, and he still possesses something of a moral compass. When Mickey visits Peña’s character to confirm a suspicion, you see in the course of just a couple minutes that McConaughey is nervous, shaken, and desperate as he tries to right a prior wrong.

Reviews for The Lincoln Lawyer use phrases like “very refreshing,” “never-better,” and “the only actor in Hollywood who can swagger while sitting down.” This performance hit the reset button for McConaughey, who admitted in an interview with Cigar Afficionado magazine (of course) that the so-called McConaissance was more a case of him saying “f*** the bucks” and taking roles that “scared” him after a decade of easy, lucrative rom-coms. While he enjoyed giving audiences “90-minute breezy romantic getaways,” he wanted to be an actor again, “going as deep as you can in a role,” and The Lincoln Lawyer marks the beginning of that journey.

3. McConaughey Soars in R-Rated Films

(Photo by Everett Collection)

It’s also fitting that The Lincoln Lawyer marked Matthew McConaughey’s comeback because the Tomatometer scores in his filmography reveal an interesting trend. His R-rated films boast a Fresh 60.2% average, whereas his PG-13 films sit at a Rotten 40.9% average. In other words, he has thrived in more adult-oriented fare, as 14 of his 15 best-reviewed films are rated R ( Kubo and the Two Strings is the lone exception). McConaughey won his Oscar for the Dallas Buyers Club , and most recently, The Gentleman collected a 75% Tomatomometer and an 84% Audience Score en route to earning $115 million worldwide. Basically R = McC glory — with the exception of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation , Tiptoes , and Surfer, Dude , but even those three have cult followings of their own.

Though it was a television program, the HBO crime drama True Detective sported a similar TV-MA rating, which is appropriate for a show that features brutal murder, copious profanity, and a sense of dread that weighs on you like a Lincoln Town Car. McConaughey’s performance in the first season of the series earned him Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his turn as “Rust” Kohle, a Lone Star-swigging detective who goes through super dark times while hunting for a serial killer.

Now, his PG-13 films have made much more money at the box office — Interstellar (that crying scene…) and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in particular were giant hits. But movies like Mud, Killer Joe (which actually received an NC-17 rating), and Magic Mike were low-budget marvels that found him hitting new gears and allowed him to work with people like Steven Soderbergh and Jeff Nichols . Yes, 2019’s famously panned Serenity is also rated R, but it’s insane, and we love that it exists — because it’s insane.

What’s wild is that between 2003 and 2011, McConaughey’s only Fresh film was Tropic Thunder , the R-rated comedy epic that saw him dueling with Tom Cruise and throwing TiVos in the air to stop deadly rockets. The role is a minor one, but Rick Peck, Hollywood Agent, is another cocky creation who is just as dedicated as Mickey Haller is to his clients.

4. He’s at His Best Playing Characters Whose Names Begin with M

Matthew McConaughey in The Gentlemen, Mud, and The Lincoln Lawyer

(Photo by ©STX Films, Jim Bridges/©Roadside Attractions, Saeed Adyani/©Lionsgate)

Bear with us here: Between Mud, The Gentlemen, The Beach Bum, The Wolf of Wall Street, Frailty , and The Lincoln Lawyer , R-rated movies in which McConaughey’s character’s first or last name begins with an “M” have a 76.5% Tomatometer average. This is well above the 60.2% average of his R-rated films in general. During the McConaissance, five of his best films have him named Mud, Mickey, Moondog, Michael, and Mark. Is this mere coincidence, or is there some other cosmic force at work?

Two of McConaughey’s most underrated performances are in The Beach Bum and Frailty ( which isn’t part of the McConaissance, but it’s legit ) . In The Beach Bum , Harmony Korine’s follow-up to Spring Breakers , he returned to Florida and cast McConaughey as a pleasure-loving author who gets entangled in shenanigans that involve great white sharks, cannabis, and explosions. Moondog is a peculiar entity who feels like an alternate version of McConaughey himself from a different timeline. The film moves at a leisurely pace, and it’s kept together by a dedicated McConaughey who knows he’s in a singular role of a lifetime. In Frailty , the Bill Paxton -directed horror film, McConaughey plays a guilt-ridden man named Adam/Fenton Meiks who believes he is on a mission from God to eliminate demons that walk among the living. He also tells excellent stories about past murders and family trauma, which he would do again in True Detective .

5. The Film Boasts a Deep Bench of Supporting Characters

(Photo by Saeed Adyani/©Lionsgate courtesy Everett Collection)

While The Lincoln Lawyer may feature McConaughey in every scene, it helps that he’s surrounded by a supporting cast that’s deeper than the bench of the 2002-2003 San Antonio Spurs. It’s a treat watching John Leguizamo , Marissa Tomei, Josh Lucas, Laurence Mason, Michael Peña, William H. Macy , Shea Whigham , Frances Fisher , Ryan Phillipe, and Bryan Cranston act against McConaughey. It feels like their energy made him raise his game, and you can see it on the screen.

His chemistry with Tomei’s Maggie, Mickey’s ex-wife, is palpable, and Michael Peña gives him pure gold to work with as an innocent man doomed to decades in prison. It also helps that Ryan Phillipe oozes menace and gives viewers a villain who desperately needs to be found guilty. The ensemble is instrumental to the success of the film; he’s surrounded by an embarrassment of riches, which makes the film infinitely rewatchable.

That’s another reason why McConaughey has flourished in the decade since The Lincoln Lawyer’s release: Between Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, Mud, Dallas Buyers Club (Jared Leto also won an Oscar for this film), Bernie , and Magic Mike , he’s been surrounded by A-listers doing A+ work. It’s part of the conscious decision he made back in 2011 to seek out challenging, rewarding material and work with talented individuals at the top of their game, and it reflects his newfound commitment to his craft. Would the McConaissance have still happened if he didn’t choose to star in The Lincoln Lawyer ? Maybe, probably, but thanks to a number of factors — both obvious and esoteric — there couldn’t have been a more appropriate vehicle. Also, we like to imagine it led to this .

The Lincoln Lawyer was released in theaters on March 18, 2011.

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The Lincoln Lawyer review – it’s a modern-day Knight Rider! Buckle up

Netflix’s car-based legal drama is utter nonsense from axle to axle … but it’s worth it to watch the stars heroically deliver ludicrous lines with a straight face

M icky Haller is the Lincoln Lawyer. Why? Because he likes to work while being driven round in his Lincoln town car rather than at a desk. How come? Because he hates the restrictions of an office and because characteristics are easier than character, that’s why. Did you mind when Bergerac did it? Were you ever this picky about Knight Rider? No? Well, you can get behind this car-led David E Kelley adaptation of Michael Connelly’s 2008 novel The Brass Verdict without any more questions then, can’t you?

Right. Micky (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is an LA defence attorney who developed an addiction to OxyContin after a terrible surfing accident and multiple operations left him in pain and unemployed. They also left him unable to walk past large bodies of water without staring nobly and handsomely out over them as the camera lingers on his noble, handsome face until it is time for the script to start again. This is one of the less publicised aspects of surfing’s trauma-led addiction, and while I’m sure it is a burden for sufferers, it does make a legal drama-cum-thriller quite pleasingly restful.

He is pulled back into the legal biz when a prosecutor called Gerry Vincent turns out to have altered his will to leave the Lincoln Watergazer his entire practice, just 10 days before said prosecutor is murdered. A professional job, apparently.

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Jazz Raycole (Izzy) eat tacos on the beach in The Lincoln Lawyer.

Suddenly Micky has no more time to stare meaningfully out over large bodies of water. He has a job to do! Several, in fact. He must deal with a small case every week to satisfy the viewer’s need for tidy narratives. He must further the overarching story of client Trevor Elliott’s grand murder trial – in which Elliott professes his innocence despite a goodly amount of evidence that he killed his girlfriend and her secret boyfriend after finding them in bed together. He needs to fight the systemic racial and other biases of the American judicial system and navigate relationships with his two ex-wives, one of whom is his office assistant – and is engaged to the private eye hired by Haller’s firm – and the other of whom is the prosecuting attorney on the Elliott case. He’s also got to be a good father to his daughter, Hayley (Krista Warner), and keep up with his recovery. Crivvens!

By the end of the first episode, he has exonerated Izzy (Jazz Raycole), a young Black woman and fellow Oxy addict in recovery, who was charged with grand important felony theft type behaviour. Haller employs her as his new chauffeur because she can quip while driving. He has charmed Trevor Elliott (Christopher Gorham) into sticking with him rather than changing to a lawyer who – oh, I don’t know – sits at a desk and concentrates for 12 hours a day on saving him from the death penalty, rather than sitting in the back of a car and taking time out to liberate jaywalkers and litterers. He has also started investigating Vincent’s murder and squeezed in a bonding moment with his daughter.

The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix) will do you no harm, as certainly as it will do you no good. People say things like, “You know Michael – the only thing he likes more than a fight is a fight with one hand tied behind his back,” and they manage exchanges such as “Can you work with that?” “I can win with that,” with straight faces. Haller is frequently told he must be across town in court to defend an innocent man “in 41 [or a similarly precise number of] minutes”, but it’s OK because he can read the brief in the car, you see?

Absolute nonsense, of course, from axle to axle. But you can work with it, even if no one’s winning here.

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Operating on the Margins of Pay-to-Play Justice

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By Manohla Dargis

March 17, 2011

What happened — did Matthew McConaughey roll out of bed one morning and decide that, after smiling through one too many schlocky movies, playing the pretty boy opposite Sandra-Kate-Jennifer, he wanted to do something decent? Not great, mind you, just solid and satisfying, a movie that asked more of him than rock-hard abs and bleachy-white teeth, one with a touch of grit, a story to chew over and maybe even a beautiful woman who looks real, something like his latest, “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

The woman is Marisa Tomei, one of the few higher-profile American actresses in her age group (she was born in 1964, five years before Mr. McConaughey) who’s actually allowed to act her age, who conveys intelligence and sexiness, and suggests a life that’s been lived and without a face frozen by filler and fear. In “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a thriller adroitly adapted from the Michael Connelly book of the same title — directed by Brad Furman and written by John Romano — Ms. Tomei plays a character and not just the love interest. She isn’t the star, of course, but without her and the other exceptionally well-cast supporting players, Mr. McConaughey would have a tougher time making you believe that he was to the sleaze born.

But, oh, look at him go — no, cut through the waters — slicing through the crowds at this and that Los Angeles-area courthouse, a shark in gray suit and loafers. As Mick Haller (Mickey in the books), Mr. McConaughey keeps his focus tight — Mr. Furman making sure his camera does the same — doling out empty smiles to the guys with the badges and going straight for the clients whose innocence matters less than their wads of cash. Mick (the hard, short syllable suits him) works out of the back seat of his chauffeured Lincoln Town Car, an itinerant office, good for the rootless. It’s a portable refuge, as much a hideaway as an expression of the man who owns it: sleek, hard, fast and shut off from the world sprawling outside it.

Mr. Furman gives “The Lincoln Lawyer” the unpretty look it deserves, turning down the Southern California light so he can throw in some shadows. Save for a golf course where the moneyed hit balls oceanside and a high-ticket office with the usual mausoleum marble, the locations are often homey, sometimes downright homely, textured rather than slicked up. Mick has a killer view from his barely lived-in house in the hills, but he and the movie scarcely seem to notice. Mr. Furman, who made a no-profile feature debut in 2008 with “The Take,” even offers up another look at downtown Los Angeles, that overexposed movie set, peering behind its towers to where palm trees sway next to tangles of freeway.

The story, and there’s a lot of it, nicely condensed from Mr. Connelly’s page-turner best seller, largely turns on a case that looks like a slam dunk or, as one of Mick’s bail bondsmen, Val (John Leguizamo), insists, a jackpot. A man (Ryan Phillippe) did or did not beat up a woman, and his Beverly Hills grizzly mama (Frances Fisher) has the right get-out-of-jail card: a fat bank account. The client, Louis Roulet, insists on his innocence, and Mick takes the bait and the money (the same thing). Complications ensue. Mick works the case and chases leads, helped by an investigator (William H. Macy) and dogged by cops with grudges (Bryan Cranston and Michael Paré). Everything looks pretty clear-cut until it doesn’t.

Mr. Connelly, a crime reporter turned writer, spun Mick off his author’s popular series about a Los Angeles police detective by the name of Hieronymous Bosch, Harry for short. Though related to dodgy cinematic lawyers like the antiheroes from films like “The Verdict,” Mick doesn’t feel as if he were being readied for his big redemption. He has a likable ex-wife (Ms. Tomei, as a prosecutor), a young daughter who loves him and even friends. (They all seem to be on the payroll.) But Mr. Connelly doesn’t try to make us love the character, and neither does Mr. Furman. He exploits Mr. McConaughey’s facile charm, pulling us into Mick’s gravitational field, where he first counts the cash and then tries to do good. The cash is the easy part.

There are modest pleasures in a familiar story told differently enough that you’re happy to keep guessing and watching, despite this one’s five-ending pileup of a finish. Mr. Connelly was inspired by Raymond Chandler, and it shows in Mick’s jaded rap, and it’s likely that Mr. Furman watched Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight.” “The Lincoln Lawyer” doesn’t approach those heights. But these are first-rate influences, and there’s much to like in how those inspirations have been absorbed, including the wrung-out life that Mr. McConaughey summons up and the sight of Michael Peña, as one of Mick’s old clients, going from freaked-out innocent to stone-cold lifer in a few short scenes. This is an agreeably nasty tale about a corrupt lawyer working all the angles, including, it’s safe to assume, a possible movie franchise.

“The Lincoln Lawyer” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Gunplay involving human and animal victims, and extreme violence against women.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Brad Furman; written by John Romano, based on the novel by Michael Connelly; director of photography, Lukas Ettlin; edited by Jeff McEvoy; production design by Charisse Cardenas; costumes by Erin Benach; produced by Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Sidney Kimmel, Richard Wright and Scott Steindorff; released by Lionsgate. Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes.

WITH: Matthew McConaughey (Mick Haller), Ryan Phillippe (Louis Roulet), Marisa Tomei (Maggie McPherson), William H. Macy (Frank Levin), Josh Lucas (Ted Minton), Frances Fisher (Mary Windsor), John Leguizamo (Val Valenzuela), Michael Peña (Jesus Martinez), Bryan Cranston (Detective Lankford) and Michael Paré (Detective Kurlen).

Today’s Film Reviews: BEREAVEMENT, directed by StevanMena. 8 THE BUTCHER, THE CHEF AND THE SWORDSMAN, a Mandarinlanguage film directed by Wuershan. 8 CRACKS, directed by Jordan Scott. 11 DESERT FLOWER, an Englishand Somali-language film directed by Sherry Hormann. 8 THE GIFT TO STALIN, a Russian-, Kazakh- and Hebrew-language film directed by Rustem Abdrashev. 8 I AM, a documentary directed by Tom Shadyac. 8 LIMITLESS, directed by Neil Burger. 1 THE LINCOLN LAWYER, directed by Brad Furman. 6 MOTHERLAND, directed by Doris Yeung. 8 THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED, directed by Jim Kohlberg. 8 NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT, a documentary directed by Patricio Guzmán. 12 PAUL, directed by Greg Mottola. 10 WIN WIN, directed by Tom Mc- Carthy. 11 WINTER IN WARTIME, a Dutch-, English- and German-language film directed by Martin Koolhaven. 8 0S AND 1S, directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko. 8

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Netflix’s ‘the lincoln lawyer’: tv review.

Michael Connelly's automobile-loving defense attorney Mickey Haller heads to the small screen with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo taking the lead role in this David E. Kelley-created drama.

By Daniel Fienberg

Daniel Fienberg

Chief Television Critic

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Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller in The Lincoln Lawyer.

Netflix ‘s new legal drama The Lincoln Lawyer is at least somewhat entertaining for a show with a bland central character, as many as three generally bland simultaneous plotlines and no notable perspective on the criminal justice system circa 2022.

It’s Netflix’s version of the sort of retro TNT drama that I only know exists because I left my television on after an NBA game; the kind of USA drama that USA stopped making when it bailed on scripted programming; a lesser incarnation of the type of algorithmic book-to-screen Amazon pipeline that brought us Reacher and Jack Rya n and Bosch — except that if The Lincoln Lawyer were on Amazon, it could have actually been the Bosch semi-spinoff. Then again, if The Lincoln Lawyer had aired on Amazon, everybody would have just compared it to creator David E. Kelley ‘s Goliath , a murkier, more nuanced series covering similar terrain.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ on Netflix, A David E. Kelley Series Reboot Of The Novel and Film Character

Where to stream:.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Cult Justice’ on Hulu, A True Crime Series Focusing On Cult Leaders, How They Were Caught, And The Voices Of Their Victims

Stream it or skip it: ‘the outreau case: a french nightmare’ on netflix, a journalistically sound examination of a grueling and complex sex-abuse case, stream it or skip it: ‘the truth vs. alex jones’ on max, a vital documentary about the takedown of a mighty fraud, stream it or skip it: ‘anatomy of a fall’ on hulu, a riveting, oscar-winning french courtroom drama.

The Lincoln Lawyer returns to the courtroom and his titular mobile office in this Netflix series based on the second installment of Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller legal thrillers . The very good 2009 film starring Matthew McConaughey as Haller is not in play here. Instead, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is the savvy LA criminal defense attorney. And don’t you dare say anything about him being Harry Bosch’s half-brother. Netflix and Amazon don’t like each other.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Downton Los Angeles, nighttime. The camera pans to a parking structure, where a man in a suit hurries to his BMW with his laptop bag in tow. He hears a noise. He looks over his shoulder…

The Gist: Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) made his bones by defending anyone who The Man came at, and being anywhere his down-and-out, downtrodden, or even downright despicable clients needed him to be, which in a gridlock-choked town like Los Angeles was always made easier by doing his lawyering from the backseat of a Lincoln. But then a surfing accident sidelined him and his career, and saddled Mickey with an addiction to painkillers. Now, 18 months later, redemption appears. That guy in the parking structure? He was murdered at close range. But somewhat mysteriously, he had already arranged to leave his legal practice to Mickey, his friend and colleague, whose own career had floundered as he struggled to kick oxy. And that practice includes the high-profile case of game designer whiz kid Travis Elliott (reliable TV mainstay Christoper Gorham), who’s accused of killing his wife and her yoga instructor boyfriend. Mickey and Lorna (Becki Newton), his ex-wife and case manager, work to get up to speed on the Elliott case. Mickey also enlists Cisco (Angus Sampson), an independent investigator and Lorna’s main squeeze.

Putting aside his friend’s unsolved murder – for now – Mickey works a few angles to solve another outstanding case from his new docket, an assault beef on a young woman named Izzy Letts (Jazz Raycole). Now she’s free, but she can’t pay. No problem. This Lincoln lawyer needs a driver he can trust. And as Izzy ferries Mickey to Malibu and the crime scene inside Travis’s luxe beachfront manse, he promises Maggie (Neve Campbell), his first ex-wife and a high-powered prosecutor, that he’ll be on time to pick up their daughter Hayley (Krista Warner).

Later, as Mickey and Hayley eat dinner at his home, the LAPD’s Detective Griggs (Ntare Mwine) appears. He wants to look at the files in Mickey’s new law office – maybe there’s a clue as to why his colleague was murdered. “You’re at risk, counselor,” Griggs warns Haller. And he’s probably right. But the Elliott case is more important, and after a wavering monologue involving the uncanny valley hypothesis and the assertion of his innocence, Travis officially hires Mickey as his counsel. The Lincoln lawyer is back. But is he still as good as he was? And is he a target, too?

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? With David E. Kelley aboard as creator, The Lincoln Lawyer joins the prolific TV writer in his favored milieu of the courtroom alongside The Practice , Boston Legal , Ally McBeal , and of course, L.A. Law . (Kelley’s more recent successes are the Nicole Kidman-adjacent HBO dramas Big Little Lies and The Undoing .) But with its standard issue procedural format and stock characters, Lincoln also aligns with any typical network television drama playing in the 9 o’clock slot.

Our Take : The politics of ownership rights and clearances will almost certainly prevent a crossover of Netflix’s Lincoln Lawyer into the universe of Prime Video’s Bosch: Legacy . But even if the legalese prevents their being half-siblings, the streets the two characters share are still the same. From the surfing accident that nearly killed him and plunged him into the downward spiral of oxy addiction, to Mickey cruising across the 6th Street Viaduct in his 1966 Lincoln Continental convertible – a gorgeous, cobalt blue four-door land yacht complete with suicide doors – to his comfortable midcentury home in the Hollywood Hills, The Lincoln Lawyer definitely plays up the City of Angels as a character. (Its neighborhood grid even figures into the title graphic.) And Mickey himself knows where he fits in. “When I am right, there’s no better criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles,” he tells the presiding judge who signs over the murdered lawyer’s practice to him. Mickey also tells Travis that Tinsel Town’s dime-a-dozen celebrity lawyers aren’t worth the hype. “You’ve never heard of me because I make it a practice never to be heard of.” All of this does well to establish a sense of place. But what about the Lincoln lawyer himself?

If Mickey makes it his practice to never be heard of, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo seems to be making it his to never be seen. He’s a curious blank in The Lincoln Lawyer , a lead character who spends his days responding to prompts from every other character in his life, whether it’s Lorna at their new law practice or Travis summoning him to the fancy, ultra-mod offices of his gaming empire. The convertible Continental disappears, too, replaced by the slick but nondescript box of a Navigator SUV. Even Lorna’s relationship with Cisco is more interesting than Mickey’s relationship with his pair of exes. Maybe he’s saving the fireworks for the courtroom. After all, the Travis Elliott case is set to play out over the season’s full ten episodes. And Mickey does manage that wily bit of bluster-busting defense that clears Izzy and lands him his new driver. But The Lincoln Lawyer and Garcia-Rulfo need to figure out how to amplify their main dude before he disappears into a throng of more interesting side characters and the streets on which he rides.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Mickey’s back in the Navigator with Izzy. Travis Elliott just agreed to his representation, and on his face is a mixture of relief and elation. He catches Izzy’s look in the rearview. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah,” she says. “We’re being followed.”

Sleeper Star: Ugly Betty and How I Met Your Mother vet Becki Newton is the brightest spot in The Lincoln Lawyer as Lorna, Mickey’s second ex-wife and the plucky case manager at his law practice. Lorna is sharp, sarcastic, and more than happy to tell off the LAPD’s foot soldiers. “You know, you don’t help yourselves being dicky’do’s.”

Most Pilot-y Line: “Drive one of the Lincolns,” Lorna urges Mickey. “Get one out of storage. The Lincoln becomes you. You become you.” Conveniently for any viewers new to his world, driving around in a Lincoln also defines the character.

Will you stream or skip the legal drama #TheLincolnLawyer on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) May 15, 2022

Our Call: STREAM IT, particularly if you miss something sturdy and nutritious in your TV diet, something like TNT’s The Closer . The Lincoln Lawyer is easily consumable episodic fare with an LA look and some flash it could use more of.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges

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Screen Rant

'the lincoln lawyer' review.

Matthew McConaughey does a fine job in legal thriller 'The Lincoln Lawyer' - an overall solid and entertaining film.

Screen Rant's Vic Holtreman reviews The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer started off for me on the right note. The opening credits started the film with some cool retro-sounding music and a definite early 70s vibe to the visuals, so it got some points from out out of the gate. The film wastes no time in introducing us to Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller, a slick lawyer with more than a touch of con man who practices law out of an old Lincoln Continental and defends accused criminals who would otherwise be depending on a public defendant. Of course he doesn't do this pro-bono, but instead makes some very good coin which usually comes from the ill-gotten gains of those he defends.

He's always on the lookout for a case that will bring him some decent cash, regardless of who the defendant is - and as the film goes on we discover this has caused his marriage to Maggie Macpherson (played by Marisa Tomei) to come to an end. They share a young daughter and while they're divorced, they're still on (more than) speaking terms. She also happens to be a prosecutor, which puts her on the opposite "team" when it comes to court battles.

A buddy, Val (John Leguizamo), brings Mick a case that could be worth a LOT of money: A rich kid from a very wealthy and powerful family has been arrested for beating up a prostitute quite badly. He insists (very convincingly) that he's innocent - not that it matters to Mick - and Mick takes the case. Mick works with private investigator and long time friend Frank Levin (played by William H Macy sporting a cool long hair look). Frank has a bad feeling about the kid (played by Ryan Phillippe) - and although Mick is super street-savvy, he's a bit blinded by the amount of potential money involved.

As is usual in this sort of film, things are not what they seem (and frankly, the trailer for this gave away much more than it needed to) and we're left with not only seeing how Mick defends the case, but his feelings as he begins to suspect that his client may not in fact be the wide-eyed innocent he claims to be.

The screenplay was written by John Romano and has decent dialog - despite the overall serious tone of the film there were quite a few lighthearted moments throughout that elicited laughter from the audience (and even cranky old me). It's based on a novel by author Michael Connelly, whose work I'm not familiar with - the closest comparison I could think of is that it reminded me of an adaptation of a John Grisham novel.

Brad Furman directed the film, and either it was more prevalent early on or I just got used to it - but he couldn't help but employ shaky cam right from the get go. I'm sorry, but there's nothing more annoying to me than shaky cam used in scenes where the only thing happening is two people are having a CONVERSATION. I don't dig the supposed cinema verité thing of the handheld, you-are-there school of filmmaking. If there is a scene where two people are just having a conversation, I want the camera to represent my point of view while watching them - and when I'm in a conversation with people I don't bob and weave like a boxer, thank you very much. There was also some of the extreme close-up camera work I've seen recently and it's a bit much - I don't need to be so close that I can see the pores on peoples' faces.

But I digress...

Before you start thinking I didn't like The Lincoln Lawyer , let me guide you back - I really enjoyed the film a lot. McConaughey, who, frankly, is not known for his acting chops, did a very admirable job here. Of course he has no problem playing affable and charming, but he also brought a seriousness and a bit of intensity that goes beyond anything I've seen him do previously. Ryan Phillippe did a decent job, although there was something about his performance that felt a bit at arm's length or a little cold - but then one could say that was appropriate for the role he was playing. Macy is ALWAYS a joy to watch in any role he plays and that was the case here once again.

It was nice seeing Marisa Tomei back again in a fairly beefy supporting role (although I will forever see her as the girlfriend in My Cousin Vinny ). Although John Leguizamo is in the film, don't go in expecting to see much of him - he's in it for maybe five minutes total.

The script bounces around a bit and unfortunately if you think about the ending too much you may snicker a bit, but overall, if you're looking for an engaging and entertaining legal thriller, then you might want to check out The Lincoln Lawyer .

Here's a trailer for The Lincoln Lawyer :

[poll id="134"]

‘The Lincoln Lawyer,’ fun and familiar, feels like the network cop shows of old

No objection here if netflix wants to provide a well-acted throwback series complete with likable anti-hero and colorful suspects.

Attorney Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, left) hires Izzy (Jazz Raycole) to drive him from case to case on “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX

The 10-part Netflix original series “The Lincoln Lawyer” is set in the present day and the title character is indeed an attorney, but it has the comfort-viewing vibe of the classic hourlong cop and private-eye dramas of the 1970s and 1980s, e.g., “The Rockford Files,” “McCloud,” “Magnum, P.I.” and “Baretta.” It contains many of the familiar elements and characters from those shows, including a likable anti-hero, the traditional authority figures who are always throwing up obstacles, the rogue sidekick and a rotating gallery of colorful suspects.

It’s Netflix, but it feels like old-fashioned network TV—and that’s probably no coincidence, given the showrunner is the prolific David E. Kelley, whose credits include “Boston Public,” “Ally McBeal,” “Picket Fences,” “Chicago Hope,” “The Practice,” “Big Sky” and we’re just getting warmed up. Based on the second of Michael Connelly’s five “Lincoln Lawyer” novels (the first was made it into a 2011 feature film starring Matthew McConaughey), this is a slick, easily digested and well-acted legal thriller featuring an outstanding ensemble cast and a juicy, lurid murder mystery that keeps us guessing throughout—not that we can’t see some of the twists coming a mile down the road. That’s even part of the fun of shows such as this one; We feel smarter than most of the people in the room, except, of course, our hero, who’s always one step ahead of everyone else, even when it appears as if he’s stumbled down yet another rabbit hole.

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo has a kind of effortless charm and creates instant empathy with his portrayal of the flawed but goodhearted defense attorney Mickey Haller, first seen on the beach in Los Angeles, staring out at the waves and reliving a near-fatal accident from a year and a half ago. Mickey essentially fell off the grid—but now he’s back in the game after a former colleague, defense attorney Jerry Vincent, was murdered in a parking garage and for reasons unknown left his entire and potentially lucrative practice to Mickey.

Presiding Judge Mary Holder (the always terrific LisaGay Hamilton) expresses skepticism about Mickey’s ability to handle the caseload, given Mickey’s recent history, but he attempts to reassure her, saying, “I was in an accident. … I had multiple surgeries and there were complications. I took painkillers, got addicted to them. That’s over now. I got help, got clean, so whatever concerns you may have about my reputation—”

“It’s MY reputation I’m concerned about,” says the judge. “I’m the one that has to sign off on you, or not.”

Of course, Judge Holder does sign off on Mickey picking up all of Jerry’s cases, including the high-profile murder trial of hot-shot tech zillionaire Trevor Elliott (Christopher Gorham), who made his fortune after writing the first code that gave life-like eyes to action video game characters, and how’s THAT for a modern way to make a buck! Elliott is accused of shooting and killing his wife and her yoga instructor after coming home one afternoon and finding them in bed together, and the consensus is he’s guilty as guilty can be. He’s also an obnoxious tool, but Mickey is the man, and Mickey will look past Elliott’s odious personality and the seemingly airtight case against him and dig deep to see if there’s some way, any possible way, Elliott can be found not guilty. Oh, and Elliott insists that the trial not be postponed, because he wants his name and his image and his brand restored ASAP. Self-entitled murder suspects: they’re the worst.

Kelley and co-writer Ted Humphrey seamlessly introduce a number of key characters into the proceedings, starting with Becki Newton’s Lorna, who runs Mickey’s suddenly busy office and was his second wife, and Neve Campbell’s Maggie McPherson, a prosecutor who was Mickey’s FIRST wife and the mother of their teenage daughter Hayley (Krista Warner).

Mickey’s best friend and dramatic/comedic private eye sidekick is the Zen motorcyclist Cisco (Angus Sampson), who recently has become engaged to Lorna, and Mickey seems fine with that because he and Lorna work better as friends than romantic partners. (Also, it’s clear Mickey is still in love with Maggie, and how can you not be? It’s Neve Campbell, man!)

Neve Campbell plays prosecutor Maggie McPherson, who used to be married to Mickey.

Jazz Raycole turns in fine work as Izzy, who like Mickey is a recovering drug addict and is hired to drive him around Los Angeles in his Lincoln SUV as he works multiple cases simultaneously—but the major focus is the slimy tech exec and the increasingly labyrinthine circumstances surrounding that double murder.

“The Lincoln Lawyer” has a visually appealing style and makes good use of the L.A. locations, from its sun-dappled afternoons to the noirish nights when if you’re not careful, someone might clobber you over the head and tell you it’s nothing personal. As you’d expect, there’s no shortage of courtroom scenes, complete with the world-weary judge who keeps telling both attorneys they’re on thin ice and reluctantly allows one or two follow-up questions, but this better be relevant or there will be hell to play. You know how it goes. We all know how it goes. Sometimes it’s enough just to enjoy the trip.

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The Lincoln Lawyer

Where to watch.

Watch The Lincoln Lawyer with a subscription on Netflix, or buy it on Fandango at Home.

Cast & Crew

David E. Kelley

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Mickey Haller

Becki Newton

Jazz Raycole

Angus Sampson

Christopher Gorham

Trevor Elliott

More Like This

Tv news & guides, this show is featured in the following articles., series info.

Not All Critics Loved Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer, But That Isn't Stopping It From Crushing The Streaming Competition

The Lincoln Lawyer is crushing the streaming competition.

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in The Lincoln Lawyer.

The public takes a lot of stock in reviews of new movies and television shows, typically jumping onto something that's praised or shying away from something that's panned. However, in some cases, such reactions may not have as much bearing on a production's success. Take Netflix’s new show The Lincoln Lawyer , for example, which may have received some less than favorable reviews but hasn't been stopped from crushing its streaming competition.

According to Netflix’s Global Top Ten , the series' first season has been number one in the top 10 for the past two weeks, with over 108 million hours viewed. It even managed to beat out the final season of Ozark , which came in second with The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib being third. The Lincoln Lawyer , which premiered on May 13th, is currently Netflix's top streamed program in 90 countries, which is an amazing feat, to say the least.

Despite its brilliant streaming numbers, not all critics were taken by the new legal drama. On Rotten Tomatoes , the first season currently has a 75% from the critics an 82% audience score, showing that there's a divide between pundits and general audiences. One less-than-favorable reviews came from The AV Club’s Saloni Gajjar who felt the show was “tedious, low-stakes legal drama.” Meanwhile, Variety’s Daniel D'Addario believed that while the procedural “has real bite and something to say,” it doesn’t effectively balance the family drama with the legal proceedings.

This is far from the first time that a Netflix production didn’t receive overwhelmingly positive reviews but still earned high viewership. The Netflix movie John Henry got a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, but people were still streaming it , pushing it to #2 on the trending list. The same was said for another poorly-reviewed film on the streamer, Coffee & Kareem , which reached the top ten list . These are prime examples of how reactions and reviews aren't always an indication of how something will be received.

Of course, you have to wonder what it is that's got people hooked on The Lincoln Lawyer and making it one of the best Netflix shows to stream right now. The David E. Kelley-created series (which is based on Michael Connelly's novel, The Brass Verdict ) centers on an L.A. defense attorney who works out of his Lincoln Town Car instead of an office. The Magnificent Seven ’s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo takes over the lead role that Matthew McConaughey played in the 2011 film adaptation. There's other serious talent at play as well, as there's a star-studded cast consisting of Scream ’s Neve Campbell, Ugly Betty ’s Becki Newton, Insidious alum Angus Sampson, Blood Diamond ’s Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and more.

All in all, the new drama seems to have quite a bit going for it, in spite of the critical reception. You can judge for yourself whether The Lincoln Lawyer is worth checking out by grabbing a Netflix subscription .

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‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Review: Netflix Goes Traditional in Uninspired Drama Series

Based on the books by Michael Connelly, the streaming adaptation feels like a network drama — for better and worse

“The Lincoln Lawyer” is not the type of show that Netflix is usually known for. Converting bestselling mass-market book series into serialized TV is a niche that competitor Amazon has thus far owned — they already have two “Bosch” series centered around another character created by “Lincoln Lawyer” novelist Michael Connelly, the ongoing “Jack Ryan” as well as fellow book-turned-early-2010s-movie-turned-show “Reacher.” On top of that, this “Lincoln Lawyer” series was originally developed for CBS before COVID-19 delays and dissatisfaction with the pilot landed the show at Netflix. It’s even guided by an old network TV pro: David E. Kelley, known for his work on legal shows like “L.A. Law,” “Ally McBeal,” and “The Practice,” among others.

None of this is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, a lot of Netflix shows could use the discipline of old-fashioned network programming, and in that sense “The Lincoln Lawyer” combines the best of both worlds: a shorter season (a cable-and-streaming standard 10 episodes, rather than a network-friendly 13-to-20) with crisp, network-friendly runtimes (closer to 45 minutes than 60). But in its passable, uninspired watchability, the show hews closer to the middle of the pack, if that.

Like “Reacher,” the TV version of “Lincoln Lawyer” suffers a bit from its previous incarnation high-wattage movie-star glow. In the 2011 movie, Matthew McConaughey played endlessly mobile Los Angeles defense attorney Mickey Holler, who prefers to work out of his car — hence the “Lincoln” moniker. It’s not exactly that series lead Manuel Garcia-Rulfo isn’t up to the job as Mickey; he’s likable, and the series makes some interesting tweaks to the character’s background to make him less of a generic white guy. There just isn’t much tension in Garcia-Ruflo’s performance; McConaughey naturally plays a slickster you like in spite of any skepticism, while Garcia-Ruflo’s Mickey seems like a stand-up guy from the jump. There’s relatively little moral ambiguity in play.

The show labors to insist otherwise, trying to convince the audience that Mickey’s personal and professional life is saturated with chaos and murk. The season, based on Connelly’s novel “The Brass Verdict,” opens with Mickey out of the law game, having just battled an addiction to painkillers. He’s drawn back into his profession when he unexpectedly inherits a practice from a friendly acquaintance — who’s also a brand-new murder victim. That murder entwines with the high-profile trial of tech mogul Trevor Elliott (Christopher Gorham), providing the season’s narrative backbone.

The story thread also weirdly undercuts the character’s central gimmick by giving Mickey an unwanted traditional office, also passed on from his colleague. He does still zip around L.A. from court to client and back again, driven by makeshift chauffeur and fellow recovering addict Izzy (Jazz Raycole), giving him the opportunity to explain various elements of his job to his sharp sidekick (and, of course, the audience). Early on, other bits of business from Mickey’s inherited practice offer glimpses of smaller-scale clients, but the appealing framework for cases of the week is largely ignored, per the current television style.

Within that serialized style, “The Lincoln Lawyer” is an easy-enough watch. Kelley brings professionalism to the project, though not the quirkiness of his best-loved shows; the dialogue is full of verbal clichés and lazy shorthanding (including semi-nonsensical cracks about millennials from characters who are either millennials themselves, or months away from qualifying).

The bigger problem — and one more at odds with Kelley’s past strengths — is that Mickey isn’t all that interesting. All of his supposed personal failings are softened and mitigated: Yes, he has two ex-wives, prosecutor Maggie (Neve Campbell) and his chipper gal-Friday assistant Lorna (Becki Newton), but he’s on good-to-great terms with both of them, while pining for a return to domesticity with Maggie and their daughter Hayley (Krista Warner).

His addiction is left almost entirely off-screen, and his efforts to “stay clean” mostly involve him attempting to avoid alcohol, just to be safe — even in recovery, he goes above and beyond! His defense-attorney work is sometimes described as opportunistic, but has a clear moral foundation. Any allegedly sketchy practices are consigned to eye-openers like lawyers trying to skew juries in their favor during selection.

Some of this is still pretty fun. In fact, that jury-selection sequence in the fifth episode is a brisk highlight, despite its familiarity. But there have been a lot of shows about lawyers, so it’s hard to get excited about an itinerant hotshot who’s actually a level-headed good guy with an office, or plot twists that arrive with clockwork regularity rather than genuine panache.

By the time the ten-episode season is over, “The Lincoln Lawyer” has passed the time without bothering to make much of a case for itself.

“The Lincoln Lawyer” is now streaming on Netflix.

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The Lincoln Lawyer: Trailer 2
Movie Review: The Lincoln Lawyer
The Lincoln Lawyer
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5 Reasons Why The Lincoln Lawyer Was the Perfect Film to Kick Off the
The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 1 Trailer

COMMENTS

The Lincoln Lawyer
Oct 22, 2021. Rated: 3.0/4.0 • Sep 14, 2020. Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his ...
The Lincoln Lawyer
85% 46 Reviews Avg. Tomatometer 84% 500+ Ratings Avg. Audience Score Idealistic lawyer Mickey Haller runs practice out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car, taking on cases big and small across Los ...
The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 1
Jul 23, 2023 Full Review Pete Vonder Haar Houston Press Developed by prolific producer David E. Kelley, <i>The Lincoln Lawyer</i> does build some steam as it goes, but the flow of the story too ...
The Lincoln Lawyer movie review (2011)
I like movies about smart guys who are wise asses, and think their way out of tangles with criminals. I like courtroom scenes. I like big old cars. I like "The Lincoln Lawyer" because it involves all three, and because it matches Matthew McConaughey with a first-rate supporting cast, while so many thrillers these days are about a lone hero surrounded by special effects. People have words ...
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
The Lincoln Lawyer: Directed by Brad Furman. With Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy. A lawyer defending a wealthy man begins to believe his client is guilty of more than just one crime.
5 Reasons Why The Lincoln Lawyer Was the Perfect Film ...
1. McConaughey Is an Excellent Movie Lawyer (Photo by ©Lionsgate courtesy Everett Collection) While many consider McConaughey's breakthrough performance in Dazed and Confused to be his launching pad, it was the 1996 film A Time to Kill that pushed his career into orbit. The John Grisham book adaptation featured McConaughey as a defense attorney for Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), a man ...
The Lincoln Lawyer (film)
The Lincoln Lawyer is a 2011 American legal thriller film adapted from the 2005 novel ... On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 177 critics' reviews are positive, with an average ... After watching a rough cut of the film on November 12, 2010, Michael Connelly, author of the book The Lincoln Lawyer, said: The movie comes out ...
it's a modern-day Knight Rider! Buckle up
He has charmed Trevor Elliott (Christopher Gorham) into sticking with him rather than changing to a lawyer who - oh, I don't know - sits at a desk and concentrates for 12 hours a day on ...
'The Lincoln Lawyer' With Matthew McConaughey
Saeed Adyani/Lionsgate Publicity. The Lincoln Lawyer. Directed by Brad Furman. Crime, Drama, Thriller. R. 1h 58m. By Manohla Dargis. March 17, 2011. What happened — did Matthew McConaughey roll ...
The Lincoln Lawyer Movie Reviews
A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills. ... The Lincoln Lawyer Critic Reviews and Ratings Powered by Rotten Tomatoes Rate Movie. Close Audience Score. The percentage of users who made a verified movie ticket purchase and rated this 3.5 stars or higher. ...
Netflix's 'The Lincoln Lawyer': TV Review
The Lincoln Lawyer. The Bottom Line Doomed by a weakly structured plot and poorly sketched protagonist. Airdate: Friday, May 13 (Netflix) Cast: Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Neve Campbell, Becki Newton ...
'Lincoln Lawyer' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It?
The Lincoln Lawyer rides again in this David E. Kelley-affiliated Netflix reboot of the character who first appeared in Michael Connelly's novels before Matthew McConaughey played him in a movie.
'The Lincoln Lawyer' Review
The Lincoln Lawyer started off for me on the right note. The opening credits started the film with some cool retro-sounding music and a definite early 70s vibe to the visuals, so it got some points from out out of the gate. The film wastes no time in introducing us to Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller, a slick lawyer with more than a touch of ...
'The Lincoln Lawyer' review: Netflix series, fun and familiar, feels
The 10-part Netflix original series "The Lincoln Lawyer" is set in the present day and the title character is indeed an attorney, but it has the comfort-viewing vibe of the classic hourlong ...
Netflix's 'The Lincoln Lawyer' Review: Probably Worth Your Time
Netflix. Yesterday, Ozark was unseated from Netflix's top 10 charts in the US by The Lincoln Lawyer, a new adaptation of the famous Michael Connelly books that were turned into a well-received ...
The Lincoln Lawyer
Idealistic lawyer Mickey Haller runs practice out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car, taking on cases big and small across Los Angeles. ... and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. First name (Required) Last name (Required) Create my account. ... Upcoming Movies and TV shows; Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast; Media News + More;
Not All Critics Loved Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer, But That Isn't
Despite its brilliant streaming numbers, not all critics were taken by the new legal drama. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season currently has a 75% from the critics an 82% audience score, showing ...
The Lincoln Lawyer (TV series)
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 33 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.50/10. The website's consensus reads: "David E. Kelley's adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer relies too much on quirk to paper over its lack of true novelty, but this is a reliable enough vehicle for fans of legal pulp."
The Lincoln Lawyer Review: Netflix Series Feels Uninspired
"The Lincoln Lawyer" is not the type of show that Netflix is usually known for. Converting bestselling mass-market book series into serialized TV is a niche that competitor Amazon has thus far ...

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