Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this thriller based on a John Grisham novel contains considerable discussion of violence, corruption, and sexism. Women are treated as objects to either have affairs with or to bear their husbands' children. Mitch cheats on his wife. Several characters die, three of them on-screen and two of them by the supposed good-guy.
Families can talk about the importance of wealth. Do you believe, like Mitch, that there's not enough money to feel rich? How important is having things and money to you? What would you do to get it? In classic literature, the character Faust makes his deal with the devil. Can you think of other movies or books where characters do the same thing?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Heather Boerner
Like all good dime-store thrillers, THE FIRM keeps you guessing and moves the plot along quickly through its many twists and turns. Still, that's not enough to make up for the indulgent length (2 1/2 hours) and one-dimensional characters.
Tom Cruise is Mitch McDeere, a poor kid who grew up to graduate from Harvard Law School as one of the top five students. He's a whiz, but he's worked for everything he's got and he never got over his mom living in a trailer park. So when Bandini Lambert and Locke, a small Memphis law firm, offer him a huge salary, a house, a car and, most importantly, a sense of family, he moves his life, and his wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn, who looks oddly similar to Katherine Heigl in this film) to the south. There, he discovers that, like a quiet suburban neighborhood, all is not what it appears. But can he get himself and Abby out before it destroys his life, his career, and his family -- and before he loses his life?
What's fun about The Firm is, most of all, the slimy mentor played by Gene Hackman. Unlike almost all the other characters, Hackman's Avery is slimy and conniving and scared and remorseful and libidinous all at once. He's fun to watch and the movie's only comic relief.
Don't expect the Hitchcock-level suspense The Firm clearly aims for. It twists and turns successfully, but the running time is tiring and the plot still sticks to a formula. You know Cruise's character will survive. The only question is How? Unlike thrillers like The Bourne Identity and its sequels, The Firm is predictable.
Fans of this movie may also enjoy other John Grisham-penned film adaptations, including The Pelican Brief and The Client. Or consider thrillers like The Bourne Identity or even The Da Vinci Code.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentMitch makes out with his wife, talks about cooking food naked, and has sex with another woman on a beach. Nothing graphic is shown other than some finger sucking and the unbuttoning of clothes. Avery flirts with and tries to seduce Abby. |
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ViolenceA lot of off-screen violence: talk of two lawyers being killed on a boat that inexplicably explodes, talk of suicide and death. Some thugs repeatedly wound a man by shooting off a part of his ear and then grazing his shoulder before killing him on screen. Mitch kills one man by dropping heavy weights on him and beats another man to death. |
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LanguageConsiderable salty language, including "son of a bitch," "hell," "f--k," "motherf--ker," "c--ksucker," and "s--t." |
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Social BehaviorThere's considerable lying, manipulating, spying, blackmail, and terrorizing. One man talks about raping a girl, saying, "It was just statutory rape." Another man refers to the only female lawyer in the firm as "affirmative action on stilts." |
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CommercialismWe see quite a few Mercedes, and there's mention of Red Stripe beer and Hilton hotels. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSeveral characters drink to the point of being drunk. Avery drinks so much he passes out. Lamar drinks beer and smokes after he realizes that his coworkers have been killed. Abby drinks when she's unhappy with her husband. |
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