Reversal of Fortune

1990 blacker-than-black comedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Claus von Bulow has been convicted of the attempted murder of his extremely rich but troubled wife. He hires lawyer Alan Dershowitz and his team of dwarves to take his case.

Blink and you'll miss that this is supposed to be comedic. Things certainly started slowly enough. The murder-mystery aspect bored me, I wasn't caring for Jeremy Irons at all, and the whole thing had the look and feel of a television movie. But as soon as Ron Silver found his way into the story, things picked up. His character added a jolt that for whatever reason made everything about this movie a little better. What I really like about Reversal of Fortune, and what must have been kind of unique, is that it's not one of those courtroom dramas where the actors all get a chance to lawyer or judge it up and scream courtroom cliches. Instead, the focus is on the much-more-interesting research that goes into a case like this. We get the minutia, and it's fun to watch all the tiny little pieces coming together. I also liked the moral dilemma that Dershowitz was up against, and every time we got to see him play basketball, it was comedy gold, or at least comedy pudding. Jeremy Irons' cold apathy eventually grew on me, becoming just the right amounts of pretentious and chilling. Irons almost becomes pitch perfect, creating a character that you'll despise enough to want to throw the book at (maybe literally throw books at him) but at the same time think he just might be innocent. The writing's really witty, so Irons gets lots juicy dialogue into which to sink his teeth. I really liked the line where he explains his apathy by saying he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve. I also got used to the story's structure, an at-first-off-putting disjointed series of scrambled flashbacks that becomes a puzzle where you have too many pieces and not nearly enough table.

Another quality Cory recommendation.