The Awful Truth
Civil Action Deals With Dollars not Dreams

To its credit, A Civil Action doesn't sugarcoat the truth about personal injury lawsuits. The odds of winning are small: worse odds, they say, than playing Russian roulette. There is no glorious courtroom drama, no Perry Mason, no John Grisham. Throughout the film, the lawyers are motivated only by the bottom line.

A Civil Action is based on a true story about the town of Woburn, MA, and a series of child deaths connected to the town's drinking water. Jan Schlichtmann (played by John Travolta) is a stereotypical personal injury lawyer. He spouts platitudes about feeling the pain of his clients and doing them a service, but his Porsche and designer suits attest to the truth. His only motivation is money.

When the families involved ask Schlichtmann to take the case, they only want to find those responsible and receive an apology. This slick lawyer explains that money, not an apology, is the only thing that matters to his firm. He does take the case, but not because he had a change of heart. He only agrees when he discovers that two large corporations, W.R. Grace & Co. and Beatrice Foods, may be involved.

The "big firm" lawyers are depicted as bullies, trying hard to railroad Schlichtmann's small firm. Playing his competition are Robert Duvall as the defense for Beatrice Foods and Bruce Norris as the defense for W.R. Grace & Co. Norris, as William Cheeseman, plays a fool, but Duvall's Jerome Facher is a wise veteran of the court system who understands the game better than the rest of the players.

Regardless, it is difficult to picture Travolta as a victim or an underdog. Despite his firm's money problems (which becomes an overdone topic of the film), Schlchtmann becomes obsessed with seeing the case go to trial. It is never clear, however, if he is doing it out of a need to see the guilty parties identified or because his pride refuses to admit defeat to lawyers like Cheeseman and Facher. It does appear, however, that he has forgotten about the people involved.

To call this film a "legal thriller" is something of a misnomer. There are hardly any courtroom scenes. The investigation of evidence is done off screen while the only role the lawyers play is in paying the every-increasing bills. The lawyers meet in conference rooms, preen and pose, and decide the fates of their clients. It may not be thrilling, but it's more realistic and interesting to watch.

MY RATING: 5 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 112 min.