A Murder of Crows
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Images of haywire outside a prison. It's a rainy night. A police car arrives. The new inmate in cell 6 used to be a lawyer, Lawson Russell (Cuba Gooding Jr.). He speaks in the voiceover and says that people love to see a lawyer trapped in prison, as the system is seen as something which protects the strong versus the week, and he says that he started to understand that a Thursday, during Carnival time.Cut to New Orleans, during Carnival time. People drinking and a girl who shows off her breasts to the cheering crowd. Lawson alleges he's just met his consciousness, that it wouldn't go away, and that a lawyer is not allowed to have one. He phones Judge Banning, and somebody dressed up as the devil who has just broken produces a gun while he's giving that person his back and talking on the phone. Judge Wiley Banning (Carmen Argenziano) is dressed up as Caesar in a party at his home. Lawson wants to recuse himself and resign from his present case. Banning tells him that he's bound to win the case, so that he's being stupid, and he screams at Lawson saying that he wants to see him in his chambers the following day. Lawson admits that it was professional suicide. Banning calls Lawson's present client, Thurman Parks III (Eric Stoltz).Thurman and Lawson had grown up together. Thurman was the mayor's son, and Lawson was a lawyer's son. Thurman had killed a dancer, smothering her with her pantyhose. Lawson says that juries won't declare over the innocence or otherwise of an accused person, but over the abilities of the best lawyer. Lawson says that he showed the jurors a photograph of the half-naked body of the deceased until they were desensitized and it became meaningless, while the parents of the girl were devastated. Lawson recognises that the strategy was working. Talking in private in Lawson's office, Thurman becomes cocky, saying that he had told "that bitch" that he'd get away with it, referring to an unknown reporter the audience knows nothing about. That admission makes Russell cringe. They had been preparing the questions and answers Thurman would answer the following day in court. It was a rainy night as well, the wind pushes open the windows, and Lawson says that the case saved his life.The plaintiff, Billy Ray Richardson (Doug Wert) and Lawson are arguing in front of Banning. The judge tells him that he'll have Russell disbarred if he doesn't finish the case. The jury foreman (David Willis) calls for everybody to rise when Banning enters the room. Russell says that if you are very rich, as Thurman was, proof is very hard to come by. He's looking at the victim's photograph while Banning tells him to start, and Thurman smirks triumphantly to him, which it's the last straw for him.Thurman is going to testify before the jury. He starts saying what he'd memorized: on the 17th of June he was in the Silverband Club having a drink with Janey Broussard (Tara Crespo), the deceased. Lawson asks Thurman what they talked about out of the blue; Thurman answers, but afterwards, Lawson shouts to him if she could say something while he killed her. Thurman doesn't want to answer, Banning tries to stop this thread of inquires, declares him out of order and a police officer finally takes Lawson away.It was declared a mistrial. Lawson Russell gets disbarred and he has to leave his office. His best friend Elizabeth Pope (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) tries to defend her friend, but it was an impossible feat. The Louisiana Chief of Justice (Sharon Samples) disbars Lawson. Elizabeth tries to offer some consolation, saying that he defended the innocent and punished the guilty, and that his late father would be proud of his son. Lawson decides to go back to Key West, where his father had left a house, to write a John Grisham-like novel.A year afterwards, a sick old man supposedly called Christopher Marlowe hires Russell and his boat to go out fishing. Lawson is drunk, but they bond over the fishing. Marlowe talks about his late wife while Lawson says that he could feel something odd in his customer. Later, they go to a bar to have some drinks, which Churkie (Shawn C. Suttles) serves. Marlowe asks for a daiquiri, Hemingway's favourite. They talk about pocket watches, and Marlowe says that his is special, as it has a sing-song music. Russell tells Marlowe that he's a writer now, but that he used to be a barrister. Marlowe begins bad-mouthing lawyers. Lawson admits he had fun, but he's as sure as hell glad when he says goodbye to him.Back home, the following morning, Lawson orders the sale of some of his stock, as he's not earning enough money to pay for his expenses and he may lose the house - which he doesn't even want to think about. His book, after a year, was only on page 6. He admits that writing is very hard. At this moment, Marlowe pops in. He seems to feel a bit sick, so Lawson offers him a glass of water. Marlowe produces a novel he's just written, and he asks Lawson to read it and give him his honest opinion. The frail man leaves, and tells Lawson to take his time reading his novel, and that they may meet up at the same bar at night. Lawson turns off his computer and starts reading  A Murder of Crows, by Christopher Marlowe. It begins with a William Shakespeare's quotation: First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. A Murder of Crows is about 5 Southern defense attorneys who defend people who they know they are guilty but are finally acquainted. These lawyers are all rich, but they are killed in revenge of their defending rich clients. The suspenseful thriller novel is so exciting, that Lawson goes to the bar to meet Marlowe, but Churkie tells him that he's already left, feeling bad. When Lawson goes to the boarding hotel where Marlowe leaves, he can only see Goethe, a police officer that the old man died without family of natural causes - a heart attack. What Lawson knows doesn't match up with what Goethe knows, as Marlowe had told his landlady (Ellen Gerstein) that he had not family. Goethe says that spouses sometimes go after one another in less than a year. He suggests Russell lights a candle in Saint Andrew's. Goethe says that Marlowe will be cremated tomorrow, and that his belongings will go to the state, so Lawson holds onto  A Murder of Crows.Lawson looks for a publishing house for the computer-version he's plagiarised. Janine DeVrie (Ashley Laurence), owner of DeVrie Publishers, is immediately interested. She treats him as a start from the beginning. The book is an instant bestseller, and Lawson can afford a sports car, a jewellery watch, and he starts a relationship with Janine DeVrie while making it up to the cover of Forbes magazine among others. Janine suggests an advance over Russell's following book. She takes him to his mansion by limousine and they make wild sex. Her nipple is pierced. Outside her one-of-a-15-bedroom room, crows gather.A white-trash man whose surname is Dubose asks for Russell's signature in a long line of people at Planet Hollywood. The audience realises that it's the same man as Goethe and Marlowe, but Lawson pays no attention, in spite of his complaint about having an impersonal greeting. Elizabeth Pope congratulates him as well. It's then when Lawson realises what he's done, and that there would never be a "next book". He realises he's a thief, and that he was losing the only decent thing in his life - Elizabeth. He takes a rest to have a smoke, and Thurman appears with his novel in his hands. He's been acquainted in a second trial. Truman threatens him. It looks as if Thurman knew Janine making a stupid remark about her "not forgetting his whip".A hand-gloved person sends a signed copy of the book to Clifford "Cliff" Dubose (Tom Berenger), and the packet is waiting for him when he returns from his holiday in Jamaica. This Dubose is clearly NOT the Dubose the book was signed for. He starts reading it after feeding his car. A New Orleans desk Sergeant (Robert Peters) mockingly greets Dubose. A police technician who was sleeping while on duty looks for murder victims whose occupation prior was being a lawyer.Dubose arrests Lawson. Billy Ray accuses Russell of having killed the 5 victims, disguising the crimes as suicides or accidents and then telling everything in the book. Obviously, Russell says it's a coincidence, but Billy Ray says that even details which were not released to the press appeared in the book. Immediately, Lawson realises that he burnt the only thing which could prove he didn't write  A Murder of Crows, as he had put the original manuscript into the fire. Dubose was the investigator of the first case, which had been disguised as a burglary gone awry. Lawson won't speak anymore, and he asks for an attorney. Billy Ray cynically wishes him good luck in finding one, as he knows that the association of lawyers had condemned his novel, so he will have problems to hire one. So Lawson calls for Elizabeth Pope's help. He tells her that he'll collaborate with the police if he's let outside. While he and Pope leave the police station, Dubose tells Richardson that Russell is guilty, because he's looked at him. Dubose tells his officers to follow Russell, and Billy Ray says that he knows the judge who would sign a search warrant.Lawson checks in the newspaper news about the five murdered attorneys. She can't believe it when he tells her that he's got no source apart from a manuscript he himself had destroyed in his fireplace. Pope refuses to represent him. On his way back home, Lawson mocks one of the officers (Chad Rose) who are following him, but to his dismay, his house is being searched. Dubose gives permission to the searchers to be "particularly destructive", and somewhere something made of glass gets broken. Dubose admits he likes the analogy between crows and lawyers in  A Murder of Crows. Some compromising photographs from the murders have been planted in the Kitchen cupboard. Thurman laughs out loud when the story breaks the news, which a half-naked woman (Gaelle Comparat) is playing with a toy train. Janine is angry, because the media (Renée Estévez) puts pressure on her and her company inquiring whether she knew about the book murders being real. She is more than satisfied in private, though, as she comments with her attractive attorney (Glendon Rich) that the book would be the best sale.Meanwhile, Lawson is at large, escaping by train.A county clerk (Anastasia Roussel-Drake) checks the deaths of Marlowe, and the existence of a Detective Goethe. It's only then when Russell realises that both are writer-based aliases when she mentions the German writer. He reads Christopher Marlow's Faust, a man who sells his soul to the devil, and both writers did masterpieces on the topic.He returns home to pick up a gun. Two police officers (Eric James and Jim Hanna) see him, but he goes to the clerk office of courts. He steals a subpoena and gives it to Evans, Marlowe's landlady. He paid in cash and left after a week. He produces the subpoena to see all the March phone registers. Evans says that Marlowe always used the phone booth in the corner. Two cooperative and flirting phone company supervisors - one male, one female - cooperate with Lawson. Russell has to run away from several police cars, but they (Julie Letche) lose him.Dubose and Richardson complain that the FBI is taking over the case and neither of them want to speak to reporters. Dubose thinks that Lawson wants to commit suicide, and that's why he hasn't left the contry. Lawson goes to Baton Rouge. All calls were local, except one to Althea Delroy (Deneen Taylor), who lives in Jackson Street at the Garden District. Thurman Parks used to live there as well, but he didn't have Althea's number. Thurman and Janine are hooking up and slapping each other. Pope learns that Althea Delroy was a single mother who was a housekeeper and who owed 59,000 dollars of her condo. She leaves the info on a table - from where it disappears. Lawson follows Althea, who was Prof. Arthur Corvus (Mark Pellegrino)'s housekeeper. Lawson recognises him immediately. Corvus is analyzing and discussing Hamlet with students Laura (Marisa Petroro-Parker) and James (Nate Adams).At the Corvus' house, he sees photographs of the wife and little child. The child's room smelled of humidity, so he guessed she must have been at boarding school. At Corvus' laptop, he finds nothing, but then he searches everything, and finds Marlowe's pocket watch. Corvus is a professor of scriptwriting, acting, literature, and he was the Marlowe, Goethe and the book-sign guy. Althea looks startled at the escaping Russell.Corvus arrives home and worries if something happened to Althea. She's speaking to the police, and has recognised Lawson Russell. Corvus pretends not to know who he is straight away. He speaks to Dubose. When Dubose asks about Corvus' family, he doesn't reply, because the FBI arrive and Dubose is not too happy about it. Dubose thinks that there's no relation between Corvus and Russell, and that he was looking for a place to hide away.Jeffrey Lowell was the first murder victim. He had defended a banker who had hit-and-run a lady and her daughter. They were Jean and Trudy Corvus. Lowell got a release on a technicality, as the arresting officer hadn't read the banker his rights. Somebody recognises Russell and he has to run away.Meanwhile, Corvus is loading up a gun. He makes Lawson sit down while threatening him with the gun. They have a conversation at gunpoint and they tell everything.When Corvus is about to shoot Russell, Dubose appears. Dubose asks for back up, but Corvus kills him. Corvus wants to put the blame on Russell. Both fight. Lawson points the gun which killed Dubose to Corvus, leaving his fingerprints on it. Realising there's no way out, Russell kills Corvus.Cut to the prison. Elizabeth visits him. They hold hands.Lawson is a millionaire - the sale numbers for his book went to the roof.Banning judged Russell's case, so the best criminal attorney saved Lawson.As a free man, he moves to a summer destination. He says that the rich and powerful can always trod on the weak and meed, but that all everyone can hope for is a little justice once in a while.-- written by KrystelClaire

Review: This is one of those gimmicky plotted,elegantly produced movies that can be fun to watch if you go with the flow and don't dwell too much on the implausibilities.Cuba Gooding is a lawyer who has a fit of conscientiousness and promptly gets disbarred.
Gooding decides to publish the novel as his own and then the fun begins.Gooding has an engaging personality but his acting leaves something to be desired, his name is on the credits as producer (which in Hollywood can either mean a lot or nothing at all) so we would assume that he had read the script, but it doesn't always seem that way.
In this case Gooding makes a surprisingly easy escape from a house swarming with cops, then of course we get the chance to visit some nicely photographed locations and to meet some quirky characters.Tom Berenger does best in the acting department as a surly cop.
Mr. Gooding is wonderful, as always and Mark Pellegrino is truly a great actor who has been greatly ignored and under-appreciated in the film industry, (though I am sure the stage adores him).
It must not have had a large budget, because the scenes lacked the sense of suspense and drama that is achieved with good scoring and cinematography, but the acting was spectacular, especially the climatic scene with Mark near the end.
Cuba Gooding plays a lawyer who gets disbarred shortly after he lets his conscience get the better of him and he moves to Key West Florida, hoping to start a writing career.
It's fast paced and well directed by Rowdy Herrington, who's really a director to look for (made another little known James Spader flick that's very good as well).I've always like Cuba Gooding and he does a good job in the lead, proving he can well handle dramatic parts as well (if not better) than comedic ones.
Tom Berenger does well, as always, in a relatively small part as a tough detective.It's a rare thing these days that a film, particularly a thriller, comes up with a really fresh and original idea and executes it well.
1st watched 4/27/2002 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Rowdy Herrington): Effective murder mystery with many convoluted plot-twists that are almost too much to believe, but good performances by Gooding, Berenger, and even Eric Stolz, in a somewhat minor role as far as the plot, does a good job.
Without giving too much away this is basically about a lawyer who gets disbard for doing the right thing(turning in his guilty client) and then publishes a novel, which he really didn't write,  about a lawyer-murderer and then is accused of the actual crimes that were mimicked from the book.
That is quite enough in itself, but the story involved even more than that and is told at times from Cuba's characters perspective(which means of course that he isn't dead when it's over, but thats okay hes the star).
Rowdy Herrington, writer and director, of A Murder of Crows proves his talent with this movie.
The film is interesting, with good performances from Cuba Gooding Jr as a lawyer-turned-novelist and Mark Pellegrino as the man who has framed / is framing him.
Don't expect to have all loose ends tied up - a potentially good and interesting angle, a link between Mark Pellegrino and Eric Scholtz (Thurman Parks III, the guilty scumbag, whom the Cuba Gooding character fails to defend) is hinted at but never explored.
It's basically the old Hitchcockian "innocent man is hunted down by the police while trying to locate the real murderer" plot again, but with some new literary variations this time.
And for once there's an African-American in a leading role (Cuba Gooding Jr), with hardly any comment on it in the movie - apart from Eric Stoltz's unpleasant Southern rich guy referring to him as "boy".To discuss the plot at all would reduce the fun for anyone who hasn't seen the movie.
To those IMDb commenters, who didn't like the movie because Gooding's character does some dumb things, I would simply ask - where's the rule that says the main character has to be smart and have good judgment?
Someone else has pointed out that the moral of the film is the simple "Honesty is the best policy"; but I think it adds the cynical words "except when you're on a murder rap"!.
It certainly kept me on my toes and the writer was certainly nearly always one step ahead of me.I always know a film is good when the time goes quickly - this felt like about 10 minutes!Highly recommended.
It was about what I expected.Cuba Gooding Jr. played a lawyer who was disbarred when he decided he really didn't want to defend someone he knew was guilty.
You would think a educated lawyer like Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character would have picked up on that too.
The old man ends up giving him a 'novel' he wrote, wanting an opinion on the book, and the lawyer is stunned by it.
This really wasn't a well though-out plan.Next thing you know he's being arrested, because it turns out all the murders in the book actually happened, ha ha ha.I've never been a big fan of Cuba Gooding Jr. and I wasn't in this movie.
There is no suspense here, just a symptom of a screenplay and shadows of actors doing their usual stuff: Tom Berenger and his "I'm gonna kick your butt, pal" attitude, Cuba Gooding Jr and his "Look at me, I'm suffering inside" way...phew...even the excellent Marianne Jean-Baptiste is sacrificed to a non-existent character.
Mr Herrington should go back to study and stop making things that look like movies but that are just images put together in a way that might sell some tickets(remember the horribles Jack's Back and Striking Distance...).
"A Murder of Crows" joins a select few films where the writer/director shows you the story, and then says, "Oops, remember when I explained that?
I love legal thriller/mystery movies, and Murder of Crows was one of the best ones I've seen.
Cuba Gooding plays a lawyer down on his luck who decides to write a book.
I got this film on DVD for £3.99 at my local supermarket so I wasn't expecting a great work of art, but this surpassed even my (considerable) patience for bad movies.
Cuba Gooding Junior wasn't very good and I didn't recognise any of the other actors, not that it matters, because none of them gave even a half-decent performance.This film was on par with a bad high school media studies assignment, and as such, is absolutely not worth watching.0/10..
With the story uncredible, with monotonous off-screen comments trying to fill in what we cannot get from the screen action, with conventional and non-inspired acting and filming, there is little left to like in this film (maybe the New Orleans and Key West landscape).
I think this is one of Cuba Gooding's best movies.
***SPOILERS*** "A Murder of Crows" starts off interesting enough with New Orleans defense attorney Lawson Russell sitting in his home and just about to be assassinated by this guy dressed in a Devil costume on Fat Tuesday evening.
The mask man is told by Russell that if he refuses to defend Parks he can kiss his career in law good-by; this seemed to have caused the killer to change his mind in doing in Russell.Never the less Russell purposely tries to lose the case for his client Parks and is then disbarred from practicing law for life.
It's there that he meets this old eccentric Christopher Marlow who after having a ride with him on his boat gives his this manuscript "A Murder of Crows" to read and tell him later what he thinks of it.
Deciding to have the book "A Murder of Crows" published under his name it soon becomes an overnight best seller and Russell is all over the press as one of the most talented young writers in America.
In the fact that he knows things about the murders that only the killer who murdered them and the police who investigated the case knew.Cuba Goding Jr. as fugitive Lawson Russell was like a bouncing ball on the screen bouncing from New Orleans to Key West and back with the police in both those cities, and all points in-between, not being able to catch him.
Tom Berenger as New Orleans Det. Clifford DuBose did his best to be over-the-top in his actions as a gong-ho type who liked to do things "His Way".
And thus have the killer get away due to his selfish and unprofessional actions.The ending was just too much to take taking away any believability at all that the movie had left up until then with Russell ending up just like the clients of the five defense lawyers did in the book "A Murder of Crows" as well as Truman Parks III in real life..
Cuba Gooding Jr's acting was good, not up to his usual level, but still good; the other actors in the film made it quite the B-movie.
From start to finish, it did quite a good job of holding my attention, but didn't have that edge and the right sequence of shots/scenes-- overall the major problem is that it feels geared towards people who are not smart enough to figure things out or expect quality lines.
Cuba Gooding is wonderful as the lawyer and the plot is brilliant.
"A Murder of Crows" simply plays like a halfway decent made-for-TV movie straight out of the 1970s or 80s--nothing more, nothing less.
Louisiana defense lawyer Lawson Russell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) deliberately causes a mistrial in the trial of Thurman Parks III (Eric Stoltz).
Police detective Clifford Dubose (Tom Berenger) is investigating the real murders of five lawyers that is exactly as written in the book.
This waters down the suspense.Gooding & Jean-Baptiste play their roles to perfection and, as is the usual case, Tom Berenger excels.
This was a suspenseful and grippng tale that was well written and the actors did a great job, especially Mark Pellegrino in his role(s) as an old man, a cop, a teacher, and a psycopath.
Just as the leading actors (Cuba Gooding and Tom Berenger) masquerade as A-list stars, the plot and its direction masquerade as a "thriller." If you aren't paying attention, you might be duped into thinking this is a good movie, but as the old myth about Chinese food goes, you'll be starving again an hour later.Gooding plays an attorney who is disbarred for snitching out a guilty client as in "And Justice For All," who is then framed for a murder and tormented by the killer and the cops throughout.
This crime thriller starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Berenger has everything to make itself average.
Cuba Gooding Jr. is great but Tom Berenger has never been a favorite of mine.With a little more effort, this movie could have had the dark appeal of "The Game" or "A Perfect Murder.".
Out of a sudden our advocate (Cuba Gooding Jr) is a fisher (you have to do something in your life, not?) and an old man gives him a manuscript.
The plot was interesting, the locations very appealing (for someone who lives in Australia) and the acting although a little stereotypical, acceptable.I thought Cuba Gooding Jr.
"A Murder of Crows"Cuba Gooding, Jr. had already earned an Oscar, surprisingly, when this film came out in 1999.
But something even more surprising is that TWO Academy Award winning actors are in this film, also including Tom Berenger.Gooding plays Lawson Russell, a disbarred lawyer who decides to write a book about his experiences.
And as for Berenger...well...his performance as Clifford Dubose is just plain dull and unmoving.Director Rowdy Herrington had a good idea for a film but turned it into a snorefest with a few interesting scenes.It's not an awful movie, but it doesn't work as good as it should have.
However when the murders in the book turn out to be true Lawson finds himself on the run trying to find out who is setting him up.I'm generally not a big fan of these type of thrillers  they usually stand and fall on daft twists and stuff like that.
The voice-over gets terribly irritating and poorly written, and one wonders how a script this bad makes its way into the movies.+ (GOOD THINGS)  	1.) The plot  		2.) The music  		3.) The supporting actors 	4.) The Key West shots(BAD THINGS)  	1.) Cuba Gooding Jr.'s performance  	2.) The script  		3.) The direction  		4.) The indoor sets  		5.) The voice-over  		6.) The believability
This is a Cuba Gooding Jr. movie.
Despite the fact that I was able to decipher the plot/mystery just before and as soon as the old man died (my high school had very vigorous English courses when I attended) I was in suspense and doubtful especially because I didn't know if I was right and all of my roommates had other ideas about the story's guilty party/parties.
Even though Cuba Gooding Jr was the lead character, I thought the story was written in such a way the movie was really in almost everyone else's hands but his.
I do not know about other people, but when I heard of a movie called A Murder Of Crows, I knew I needed to see it.One of the things that I liked the most about this film, is that the name is almost perfect for it.
There are movies, both good and bad, whose names have nothing to do with the movie, and it seems to be just the first thing that came into the creator of the movie's mind.Cuba Gooding, Jr. is a great actor, I like all his films.
Both Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Tom Berenger do their usual excellent job.
A Murder of Crows is an independent film with some big time star power, that makes a terrific story that much better.
The film focuses on Lawson Russell, (Cuba Gooding Jr.) a successful New Orleans defense attorney, who suddenly finds his conscience.
As I said the story is ingenious and very well written, unfortunately, I watch a lot of movies and actually figured the whole thing out, twenty minutes into the film.
This movie was the perfect fit for Cuba Gooding Jr. and was one of the best written films I've seen all year.
Here was a star (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who two years earlier had got an Oscar for his work in "Jerry Maguire" - and here he now was starring in a direct-to-video movie!
Not only is this narrative sometimes pointless but it varies in tone, as if coming from different characters instead of just Cuba Gooding Jr.'s fugitive lawyer.
What happens in this murder mystery, quite simply put, is that Cuba Gooding Jr. is a disbarred lawyer who is framed for multiple killings of other lawyers.
And I'm already used to watch movies that don't seem to appeal to a great audience for different reasons, so in the end I went for it and hoped for the best...After Lawson Russell gets disbarred as a lawyer for not defending one of his clients the way he should - he knows the man is guilty and his conscience forbids him to keep the man out of jail - he will write a book about his experiences.
I guess in the end it is Cuba Gooding Jr. who really makes it worth watching.
In the end this movie has too many weaknesses and looks too much like the average courtroom thriller, but even though this isn't the best thriller ever, I know worse ways of spending my time.
A Murder of Crows is a very good film that has a good cast which includes Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Berenger, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Eric Stoltz, Mark Pellegrino, Ashley Laurence, Carmen Argenziano, Doug Wert, Nate Adams, Jeremiah Black, Derek Broes, Adrian Colon, and Gaelle Comparat!
The movie is filmed very good.
If you like Tom Berenger, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Eric Stoltz, Mark Pellegrino, Ashley Laurence, the rest of the cast in the film, Action, Thrillers, Crime, Dramas, and interesting films then I strongly recommend you to see this film today!.
I wanted to like this movie because the murder was well conceived.
Out hero, the lawyer Lawson Russell played Cuba Gooding Jr. gets his lawyer license revoked and his life changed when he can't stand defending an obviously guilty sex-murderer.
Cuba Gooding Junior, (who wasn't awful but ..), plays Lawson Russell, a successful Lawyer who 'snaps' after defending one too many sleazy, guilty, rich clients, and is disbarred.
If you're looking for a movie that requires no thinking, no surprises, no interesting screen play, and no great actors, then 'A Murder of Crows' just might fit the bill.
The only thing I can really recommend about this movie is the 'acting' of the police, detectives, agents, bailiff etc - their performances are SO bad, you might get a good chuckle (for about 2 minutes).
Mark Pellegrino's character has many twists and turns, which were neat to see, I liked his scenes with Cuba Gooding they were somewhat intense.
Cuba Gooding Jr. stars in this unusual film about a lawyer who became a plagiarist writer and then a murderer.
Gooding plays Lawson Russell, a lawyer whose conscience withdraws his counsel in defending a guilty man.
Eric Stoltz plays a rich playboy client of Russell's and Tom Berenger is Clifford Dubose, a detective working some related murders.
why was the judge smiling?, etc-- they wouldve needed to add like another 20 minutes to the running time.So anyway, if you want to get together with a bunch of lawyers or film geeks, this might be a fun movie to roast, but why not rent an actual good movie instead?.
In the dark recesses behind this film, I'm sure there is an interesting story buried about how Cuba Gooding, Jr., Tom Berenger and Eric Stoltz ended up in this pile.