ViewGuide

Created Apr 07, 2011 12:27PM PST • Edited Apr 07, 2011 12:27PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   Based on a remarkable true story of a high-school dropout who enrolls in law school and becomes an attorney to exonerate her brother. The storyline is engaging, but comes across as a bit schmaltzy in it’s cinematic presentation.

   Hilary Swank plays Betty Anne Waters, whose brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is convicted of a brutal murder. The checkered past of Betty Anne and Kenny leaves little doubt that justice has been served. But Betty Anne feels otherwise, and enrolls in law school in an attempt to represent her brother.

   Sometimes movies try to be more moving than they need to be. The true story itelf is plenty dramatic, and is sadly washed over in cinematic hues of melodrama and occasioanl heavy-handed acting. Sadly this overexposure to theatrics diminishes the final story, leaving it to feel more like a Lifetime TV movie than the powerful legal piece it could have been. As they say in baseball “Juuust a bit outside….”

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

5. Male Stars OK 2.5

   Rockwell does an ok job in his role as a rebel Jesse James lookalike. His physical characteristics convey the hardened edge of a man in prison, but he becomes somewhat one-dimensional by the end of the piece.

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

   Hilary Swank is good in her role as the resilient sister who goes the extra mile.

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

   Minnie Driver plays a classmate and friend of Betty Anne, and doesn’t do a whole lot to distinguish herself. But the REAL star of the film is a great performance by Juliette Lewis as a drugged out loser who provides testimony critical to the conviction. Her performance is the highlight of the movie, and is reminiscent of the great role played by Christian Bale in The Fighter

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

10. Film

    OK 2.5

11. Direction OK 2.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music OK 2.5

14. Visuals OK 2.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.6

17. Sex Titillating 1.7

18. Violence Brutal 2.9

    Violent images of a homicide

19. Rudeness Profane 3.1

    Colorful prison language

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

    Based on a true story.

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0