Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Bill Brooks Not a bad film as such and Cher gives a reasonable performance as a lawyer, for someone who once believed the sun revolved around the earth(according to Sunny). The main fault is the plot. There are so many holes; for example, would a lawyer *really* get into such a relationship with a juror? What was Michael doing at the station? did he follow the juror? if so how? why did Cher go to the judges' home? to confront him? why did she back off when she saw the deputy attorney general? surely this was a chance to to present her evidence to him. Would the deputy a.g. allow all of the confrontation in the court at the end or would he have quietly called off the trial and have the judge arrested at home(he obviously knew what was happening or else why was he there?). And that sappy ending! perhaps it was a bad film after all...Really expected better from Peter Yates.

jjnxn-1 Very entertaining if not always plausible courtroom drama. Cher is excellent as a public defender who has her passion for the law restored by a special case, even if some of the outfits she wears in court are questionable (a leather jacket!? really?). Quaid also does good work keeping the smugness that often marred his work at a minimum but the real standout is Liam Neeson who was just starting to break out of the pack at this point and emerge as star material. Since his character is mute he has to rely on gestures and his facial expressions to convey his anguish and make the unsavory man he portrays someone you root for. An unusually strong supporting cast keeps this involving and Yates keeps the pacing tight. Kudos also go to the title sequence designer whose choice of music and a simple but evocative design set the tone immediately for the film.

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.

dbdumonteil The plot is far-fetched and a lot of elements might seem questionable:the whodunit,Dennis Quaid's cynical character,the umpteenth courtroom drama...But everything vanishes when it comes to depict the Cher/Liam Neeson relationship.Both shine ,especially the latter,who ,being deaf and dumb ,has to express his emotions with his face .He is so good he seems to carry the weight of the world .He was once a man who had something in his life ,but he was betrayed by his country when he returned from Vietnam.How a man who gave the best years of his life (to mention a famous movie)can be treated like a dog ("nine dollars ,it's much when you've got to survive" says his idealistic lawyer)and end up one of the last lonely and wretched?Every scene where they are together rings true.And "suspect" becomes the story of a redemption:physically,morally and intellectually,the homeless man regains his dignity his pride and the right to be a citizen again.There is a complex plot ,dealing with politics ,but it's the luminous Cher and the very moving Neeson,desperately trying to communicate, who will haunt the viewer after the movie.