Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

highwaytourist This is a completely implausible legal thriller/romantic thriller. The lack of credibility becomes more obvious as the movie grinds on. The things that Cher and Dennis Quaid's characters do would get them arrested and the case thrown out, and Cher's character would get disbarred. The case involves a dead Supreme Court Justice, yet the characters do things that would embarrass a first-year law student. I realize this is fiction, but even escapism has to be somewhat believable. The Perry Mason series was not reality, but at least it was somewhat credible. Also, the climactic scene is something that Agatha Christie would have been too embarrassed to use. A defense lawyer and a juror having an affair during a trial? Some have praised the chemistry between Cher and Quaid. It does help, but not enough.

Neil Doyle SUSPECT is a very watchable little courtroom mystery that deepens as it goes along spinning a plot about corruption in higher places. And there's a nice surprise at the end for anyone trying to figure out who the guilty party is. But it still seems contrived and the quirky relationship between CHER and DENNIS QUAID doesn't help. He's a cocky juror with knowledge of the judicial system who gives her help in solving the case of a man wrongly accused of murder whom she's defending.LIAM NEESON is the wrongly accused and he's excellent in a role that has him as a homeless deaf mute accused of murdering a girl for a mere pittance. Cher is the lawyer assigned to defend him. She does so with sincerity and warmth but the plot line which has her discovering the truth is too far-fetched to be believable.Nevertheless, the tale is constructed in a way that will have you absorbed until the courtroom ending. Good performances by JOE MANTEGNA and JOHN MAHONEY help sustain some credibility. There's a well done chase scene toward the end with the killer revealed only in shadow or shown only from shoes to knees, so that the final revelation of the killer in the courtroom does come as a surprise.Watchable but easily forgettable, with a not too convincing relationship established between CHER and DENNIS QUAID.

Philip Van der Veken Before watching this movie I had some serious doubts about it. Not only is this a courtroom drama (and as you know the streets of Hollywood seem to be paved with this kind of scripts), it also featured Cher as one of the main actresses. I'm not really a fan of her as a singer, but seeing her as a good actress is even a lot harder. As you know, almost all pop diva's, young or old, seem to have that urge to appear in one or two movies and that almost always results in complete disasters. So why would Cher be any different...? When a judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered in a river, a homeless and deaf-mute man, named Carl Anderson, is arrested for her murder, because all indirect evidence points to him. Because he can't afford a lawyer, public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned by the court as his lawyer. Even though she doesn't always believes in his innocence, she still goes after the real killer. She gets help from the congressional adviser Eddie Sanger, who is called to be on the jury panel and together they find some important evidence that the murder has something to do with corruption in some high ranks...I must admit that Cher has done a better job than I ever expected from her. She actually was very convincing and interesting to watch as the public defender. Together with Liam Neeson she makes this movie work. Their nice performances and their difficult professional relationship in this movie are actually the best thing this movie has to offer. The story on itself certainly isn't that bad, but the plot is a bit far-fetched and gives this movie an ending that is a bit too abrupt.In the end this is a reasonably well-done courtroom drama / thriller that lacks the required tension to be fully satisfying, but which offers some nice acting and some good direction. It's not the best movie in the genre, but it is enjoyable enough to be worth a watch. I give it a 6.5/10.

film_ophile i have just re-watched this film, maybe the 5th time since its release. What a treat!Smart, sexy,dynamic and compelling, socially relevant, with a good moral backbone.All the actors are spot-on. Cher easily convinces us of her serious attorney's commitment to helping society's outcasts;Liam Neeson in his first film role as the silent hulking Viet-vet street person accused of murder; Dennis Quaid at his cocky best as a razor-sharp lobbyist/juror, and John Mahoney and Philip Bosco. The screenplay ,directing and editing are all first rate.And if you pay attention, you can learn a lot about the inner workings of our government's congressional/lobbyist bedfellows and the scary fallibility of our justice system and its judges and lawyers. Some may think this is a piece of romance disguised as a get-into-your subconscious morality play, but i think it's just the opposite. How many films have you seen that convincingly made you put yourself into a street person's shoes and think about your attitudes towards them? I usually am close to agreeing with the IMDb average vote on a film, but not this time. For me, this is a real 10.