Class Action (1991)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

An action-packed slog

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Class Action is directed by Michael Apted, is written by Carolyn Shelby, Christopher Ames and Samantha Shad, has music by James Horner and stars Gene Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Laurence Fishburne and Donald Moffatt.Jebediah Tucker Ward(Gene Hackman)is a brilliant lawyer who takes on a client who is suing the makers of his car due to major faults in the vehicle which it's believed led to an accident. Ward must deal with the fact that the defence lawyer for the automobile company is his estranged daughter Maggie Ward(Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).Ward and Maggie have had a difficult relationship since Maggie discovered he was cheating on her mum. When her mum dies Maggie and Ward spend some time together after her funeral and tentatively try and reconnect. They find there's still too much bad feeling between them though and after a bitter argument don't speak. They find themselves thrown back together again when the case goes to court and they discover they will be facing each other in the courtroom.Although the film is classed as a courtroom drama there's more focus on the relationship between Ward and Maggie. The film works better as a story about an estranged father and daughter and Hackman and Mastrantonio have amazing chemistry.Anyone who has a less than perfect relationship with a parent will be able to relate to this film and to the awkwardness both Ward and Maggie feel when they are with each other. Hackman in particular is excellent in scenes where Ward is with his daughter and he doesn't know how to act around her,you can see that he wants to reach out to her but doesn't know how to and is perhaps too stubborn to even try.

Thanks to the recent legal decision against Toyota and memories of the ill-fated Ford Pinto, it's difficult not to think of "Class Action". Many reviewers like to think that court room dramas can always be better, but if you've ever witnessed real court proceedings then you'll discover they can be immensely boring and why film makers avoid it. What makes "Class Action" so refreshing is the context of the case, which is a bona fide problem considering numerous cars with dangerous design problems, the devious corporate view of profit over loss (including life), which gives the film an underplay of David vs. Goliath, the spicy exchanges in court, the conflict between father and daughter, which is essentially a clash of Right vs. Wrong, and of course first rate performances by the actors. There are a few predictable story lines, but that's to be expected. "Class Action" is altogether a very entertaining and insightful film.

Jed Ward (Gene Hackman) is a lawyer who fights to protect people against corporations. His daughter Maggie (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) works for a big legal firm. A case comes up which pitches them against each other. To make matters worse she resents her father for cheating on his wife (her mother) in the past. When they start butting heads over the case all hell breaks loose.Great legal drama with Hackman and Mastrantonio giving incredible performances in the leads. Either being politely legal to each other in the courtroom or tearing into each other in private they're great. I'm no lawyer but the film seems to follow legal procedures and rules pretty accurately (unlike some legal dramas that completely ignore most of the them). Even better it doesn't dumb down the dialogue and treat the audience like a bunch of idiots. It's well-written, thought-provoking and brings up some very good legal and ethical questions. Sometimes it's a little too slow and occasionally people seem to be giving speeches rather than talking but it still works all around. Also Colin Friels, Larry (Laurence) Fishburne, Donald Moffat and Jan Rubes give strong performances in supporting roles. This came and went pretty quickly in 1991 (probably because it had the most boring posters I've ever seen advertising it) but it's a good legal thriller that's worth catching. I give it an 8.

Everything starts nice: the subtleties of the story line are introduced in an admirable low key fashion. And the 'expert' critics say this is a great new twist on a worn out theme, and maybe at the time this movie was released it was - but that was then and this is now and frankly the idea wears thin. There seem to be three writers attached to this project and one will of course conjecture what they were up to, for sections of this loose tale seem rather poorly written - and even poorly directed, and the director Michael Apted, who three years earlier made the excellent Gorillas in the Mist, will have to forgive.The flaw seems to be thinking that the marriage of these two 'sub-plots' can work. And for a courtroom drama there is precious little courtroom time, and what is there jumps about a bit too much.The cast are great; the acting is generally top drawer - except for a mother daughter scene near the beginning which simply unequivocally does not work and undermines the viewer's confidence in the movie - and I never before realised how beautiful MEM could be - but maybe anyone dressed in threads like that would look as good.You'll enjoy it, you'll regard it as adequate entertainment, but if you're looking for excitement or a better overall premise, you'll be disappointed.