Skip to main content

PILOT REVIEW: The Firm

THE FIRM










Starring: Josh Lucas, Callum Keith Rennie, Molly Parker, Tricia Helfer, Natasha Calis, Shaun Majumder, and Juliette Lewis

Based on the Novel by John Grisham, Created for television by Lukas Reiter
Written by Lukas Reiter, Directed by David Straiton

The Firm is a new drama on NBC based on the best-selling book by John Grisham and hit movie starring Tom Cruise. This updated series takes place 10 years after the events of the book and movie where Mitch McDeere (Josh Lucas) is out of witness protection and starting his own firm with his wife (Molly Parker), ex-con brother (Callum Keith Rennie), and his brother's girlfriend (Juliette Lewis). However, he is enticed into joining a new firm by Alex Clark and Andrew Palmer (Tricia Helfer and Shaun Majumder) as a criminal lawyer. Unbeknownst to him, the firm has sinister motives and McDeere is being watched by the people who caused him all his troubles 10 years ago.

THE GOOD: There's some things to like here. When the show is focused on what it should be - a conspiracy thriller - it does a good job. The best parts were those involving the new firm. It left me as a viewer with questions and wanting to tune back in next time to see where the stories go. The performances are nothing spectacular but they are solid. Particularly interesting performances came from Tricia Helfer and Shaun Majumder as the leader and McDeere's recruiter to the firm. Josh Lucas is good as Mitch McDeere but it's hard to follow up Tom Cruise's excellent performance in the film. If it can focus itself, it has the potential to be a thriller like the book and movie.

THE BAD: The pilot was horribly unfocused. The show spent way too long giving some background and setting up the real meat of the conspiracy, which seemed rushed in the final ten minutes. Also, is this going to be a case of the week show? If it is, I am less intrigued. While the case was fine, we have many other shows that do something like that. People tuning into The Firm are no doubt looking for the conspiracy story, not a generic procedural. If it goes down that road, it will turn off the audience quickly because there were some serious parts of this show that dragged. It also doesn't help that the quality of production seemed awfully gray and bland. It needs some more cinematic quality to capture the thrills of the movie. Also I'm not a fan of Juliette Lewis in pretty much anything she's in and she is more annoying than anything else in this show so far.

BOTTOM LINE: The Firm is going to be a tough sell, especially if it can't find its focus. This should be a show that focuses more on the conspiracy and less on the procedural style. The problem with any well known title is that it has a lot to live up to and I doubt The Firm will live up to its title according to fans of the book and movie. Still, it did enough to make me want to check it out again. Maybe others agree, we'll see.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EPISODE GUIDES: That 70s Show Season Seven

On Thursdays, I go through classic series with a critical look at each season. Today I am looking at Season Seven of  That 70s Show ! THAT 70s SHOW: SEASON SEVEN 2004-2005 25 episodes The seventh season of  That 70s Show  is the final season with Topher Grace as a series regular and also the final full season for Ashton Kutcher. Despite still having both of those cast member, the show finds itself flailing especially with Topher Grace's Eric, who is stuck in a terrible arc for most of the season. The show also brings many characters back at one point or another but everything just feels tired. This season actually graded out the worst for me. Even worse than the often maligned final season (more on that next week). Every title this season is named for a Rolling Stones song. Starring Topher Grace as Eric Forman  (25 episodes) Mila Kunis as Jackie Burkhart  (25 episodes) Ashton Kutcher as Michael Kelso  (25 episodes) Danny Masterson as Steven Hyde  (25 e...
Post a Comment
Read more

EPISODE GUIDES: Rhoda Season Five

On Thursdays, I go through classic series with a critical look at each season. Today I am looking at Season Five (the final season) of  Rhoda ! RHODA: SEASON FIVE 1978 13 episodes Rhoda' s final season was a truncated one as the show was cancelled in December 1978 after only 13 episodes had been produced (and only nine had aired). This feels like a continuation from season four in many ways except with the ill-advised split between Ida and Martin (more on that below). While  Rhoda  has an occasional good moment and even a couple decent episodes, it is a show that seems so wildly different from season one and not in a good way.  Rhoda  could never figure out what it fully wanted to be and only made it four and a half seasons as a result. Starring Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern  (13 episodes) Julie Kavner as Brenda Morgenstern  (13 episodes) Ray Buktenica as Benny Goodwin  (11 episodes) Kenneth McMillan as Jack Doyle  (9 episodes) Nancy Wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

SCHEDULES OF THE PAST: 1995-1996 Thursdays

On Tuesdays, I take a look at schedules from yesteryear. Here's a look at Thursdays in the 1995-96 season! ABC 8:00 8:30 9:00 10:00 Sep Charlie Grace The Monroes Various Programs Oct Murder One Nov Various Programs Dec Various Programs Thursday Night Movie Jan Feb World’s Funniest Videos Before They Were Stars! Mar Apr May NBC was the powerhouse on Thursday nights but ABC still gave it the old college try in the Fall of 1995 with a trio of new dramas that they hoped would help them cut into the Peacock's dominance. Headlining their night was Murder One , a high profile new show from Steven Bochco that received much of the network's attention before the season started. The series focused on one murder case for an entire season, whi...
Post a Comment
Read more