The Devil himself boycotted this movie

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2001)

What do Al Pacino, Charlise Theron, and Keanu Reeves all have in common? Not acting school, that's for sure. If you don't believe me (and I know you do), go and see "The Devil's Advocate."
Reeves plays Kevin, a money-hungry lawyer whose winning streak and ability to defend low-lifes attracts the attention of big-time New York City lawyer John Milton (yes, like the `Paradise Lost' poet). Milton (Al Pacino) gives Kevin a NYC apartment, a huge salary, parties, and a brand new high profile murder case. Pretty soon things start getting weird. Kevin's wife, Marianne (Theron), starts seeing things and becomes convinced Kevin's new colleagues are demons - is she crazy, or is she right? Dum-dum-dum-dumm! [dramatic chord] Along the way there are lots of jury selection scenes, paper-shredding scenes, lesbian insinuation scenes, and scenes where Al Pacino raises his voice. Dum-dum-dum-dumm! [another dramatic chord] And Keanu? Well, he pretty much stays the same. [no dramatic chord]
The thing is, it wouldn't be that bad if Keanu kept his voice low, whispering lawyer phrases like `Objection, your honor,' in a sultry, growling voice. That way I wouldn't have to hear him *try* to be southern, because he's clearly not. One semi-twangy word every couple of lines ain't quite like having your car horn beep `Dixie' as you drive through Hazzard County.
But to be fair, I think he felt the need to keep up with Al Pacino, whose acting secret has finally been revealed: the yell. Yes, Mr. Pacino-we don't care if you're robbing a bank, joining the family business, doing the tango blind on the dance floor or tackling the tobacco industry  just go ahead and yell. `Hoo-wah!' And now that you've been cast as Satan, what better opportunity will you ever have to yell more than this? But, if you're not going to yell, for instance during the high-class party scenes or the lesbian insinuation scenes, when yelling would simply be inappropriate, then just grin, throw your head back, and let out one of those word-famous guffaws. `Hah!' Oh, how we love Al's guffaws.
The most entertaining part comes when Keanu and Al clash at the climax. Here is one of the best actors in the world and one of the worst actors in the world, and they're just yelling at each other. After a while I didn't even care what was going on anymore, because all the essential secrets of the film were somehow revealed right before the yelling part, so for me it just seemed like an excuse for both of them to scream.
"My God, you're a bad actor!"
"Whoa!"
Charlise Theron wins the `Lawyer-wife-who-slowly-goes-insane-throughout-the-course-of-the-film' award. Craig T. Nelson wins the `Why-are-you-in-this?' award, simply because that's what I kept wondering. Jeffrey Jones (one of the most underrated actors of our time) gets the award for `Best-portrayal-of-a-central-park-mugging-victim' and Pacino wins for `Best-capped-teeth,' and also the `Most-outrageous-way-of-setting-holy-water-on-fire' award.
All in all, it's hard to tell what this film's message is-all lawyers are inherently evil and the spawn of Satan, or is this a clever analogy meant to question our own ethics and morals? I'm going with the spawn of Satan message.
My grade for `Devil's Advocate': C