Rating: 
Summary: Great movie but why do I have to flip it?
Review: Great story by John Grisham and acting with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. It will keep you sitting on the edge of your seat at least until you have to flip the DVD over to finish it. That's right they couldn't fit this on one side for some odd reason. At first I thought something was wrong with my DVD player or the DVD. Only when I took out the DVD and saw Side A and Side B did I realize. They could have at least put a message at the end of Side A for you to turn it over. Otherwise a great DVD. The chase to track down a story about a gangster that conributed to the Presidents campaign fund and how a legal brief ties it together is very well done. I would wait to buy it on DVD when they put Widescreen on one side and Standard on the other rather than have a Side A and B.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant.
Review: I don't kow what it is, but I like the movie about innocent people being chased, or heroes chasing a clever bad guy and movies with underdog plots. A great movie for a person that likes suspence and conspiracies.Never ceases to amaze me. Once one person that's chasing her is dead, another one shows up.
Rating:
Summary: True-to-the-book! (How rare. . .)
Review: I have always been a huge fan of John Grisham's novels. One of my favorite Grisham books remains "The Pelican Brief," which was made into this 1993 movie starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. When I watched the movie, it had been over two years since I read the book, but I quickly remembered the plot. The movie begins as two Supreme Court justices are assassinated. While the FBI executes a fruitless investigation, a young Tulane law student named Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) thinks she knows who is behind the murders. She shares her suspicions in the form of a legal brief with her law professor, Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepard), who in turn shares Shaw's "Pelican Brief" with numerous other people. Soon, however, many of the people that were given a copy of the Pelican Brief start turning up dead, and Shaw also knows that her life is in danger because for this to have happened, her brief must have been correct. Frightened, she contacts a Washington D.C. journalist named Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington) that has become nationally known for writing political exposés. Together, they must work to indict the perpetrators of the crime while still protecting themselves from dangers that seem to lurk beyond every corner. The premise of this movie is naturally a masterpiece because of its brilliant author, John Grisham. The movie follows the book rather closely; it does add a few scenes that were not in the book and drop a few scenes that were, but I still felt that it did the book justice. The chemistry between Roberts and Washington works wonderfully and adds a whole new dimension to the quality of the movie that the book could never have. The two actors seem to have a natural Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan type of onscreen persona and the subtle implications of romance make the movie interesting without detracting from the plot. My only criticism for the movie comes in saying that it made a lot more sense to me because I read the book first. Viewers not familiar with Grisham will get it eventually, but the beginning and the ending of the book are not explained very well in the movie. I do think that you'll miss out on some of the best parts of the story if you don't have a working knowledge of the book when sitting down to watch the film. In all other respects, though, the movie was near perfection. The plot was always interesting, the characters were intriguing, and it was just the right length -- anything shorter would have skipped vital portions of the book and anything longer would have caused me to lose interest. Overall, I recommend "The Pelican Brief" to all Grisham fans interested in watching an excellent adaptation from book to movie, as well as to people interested in learning more about what Grisham's novels are like. "The Pelican Brief" captures all of the magic from the book and even adds a little something of its own to make for a thrilling, captivating film.
Rating: 
Summary: Star-powered escapist fare
Review: I have seen other movies made from John Grisham novels, The Client (1994 ) and The Firm (1993). I would say this is on a par with those movies, and is typical of the mass market "thriller" genre. For me it's like watching TV, or an airline movie: the treatment is predictable, the plot includes a lot of unlikely action morphed out by various CIA, FBI, and other serious types according to the general expectation of the audience on a simplistic level, with some creativity but certainly nothing original. This is a movie for a tired CEO to fall asleep to. Yet it stars Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington with an interesting cast that includes the very talented Sam Shepherd. Alan J. Pakula, who directed and penned the script from Grisham's novel, has a number of important movies to his directorial credit including All the President's Men (1976) and Sophie's Choice (1982), and some as a producer, most notably the celebrated To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). So what happened here? Just the usual gravitation toward the mean. If you make a movie aimed at a mass audience, what's the point of doing anything they wouldn't appreciate anyway? Roberts and Washington are here for their star power, not because of their considerable acting talent. Yet, perhaps inspired by one another, they both give strong performances that carry the movie and make this definitely worth watching. Julia Roberts plays a Tulane law student who gets an idea about who assassinated two Supreme Court justices and why, and she writes a brief about it, the "Pelican Brief." We see her deep in the stacks at the library doing research, sporting several hair-dos at a little table under various lighting changes, so that we know its daytime and then night, etc., a clear device about as original as the pages flying off a calender. Tulane law professor Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepherd) is her mentor and bed mate. She's twenty-four and he's about forty, but a girl can learn a lot from such a man and he's warm and loving. Nonetheless we are scratching our head about this match up, especially when he begins drinking heavily (one of the justices was his mentor), and we know now for sure he's not in love. Well, the guy that gets Julia Roberts sure as heck can't be wishy washy about his love for her, we know that. We are also scratching our head because Denzel Washington, an actor of power and accomplishment, is usually found in more serious venues. He's played Steve Biko, apartheid victim and martyr in Cry Freedom (1987) and Malcolm X in Malcolm X (1992). So what's he doing in this mid-brow flick? He plays a beltway reporter, right out of the annals of the Bernstein and Woodward legend, but there is little real acting for him to do. So why is he here? It's to play opposite Julia Roberts of course! So what we have here is a very expensive "entertainment" starring two real actors. (I wonder how much money this movie made considering what they had to pay Grisham, Roberts and Washington.) Surely the subplot has to be romantic. How IS Hollywood going to play the racially mixed duo? Inquiring minds want to know. (Hint: with great subtlety.) Julia is running, since the bad guys are after her. Notice that the plot conveniently gets rid of the "too old for her" guy. Try not to notice the other contrivances, the mysterious guy in the background who appears at exactly the last moment, for example. Just as one of the bad guys is about to blow our Julia away, he somehow blows the hit man away--by the way, getting blood on our girl. (It's enough to mention one plot contrivance per review, unless it's unusually bad, but there are others.) Well, Julia's getting the picture and it's pretty scary. She's on the phone as she's running from hotel to hotel, spending cash instead of using traceable credit cards. She can't trust anybody. Even the president of the United States is suspect, played incidentally with a kind of glee by Robert Culp as though impersonating Ronnie Reagan halfway into his dementia. Strange thing, Julia actually thinks you are supposed to really ACT in a thriller! Denzel knows better, managing a kind of controlled emotion throughout, saying as little as possible, using his eyes and making a lot out of silence, which is something an accomplished actor does when the script doesn't give him sparkling lines. Julia really does look scared, her face rubbery with a mean crease down the middle of her forehead. Watching just her, one could mistake this for an artsy-smartsy "serious" flick. Not to worry. There are some nice explosions and plenty of chases and all sorts of shadowy red herrings lurking about. Bottom line: If this is your genre, and you've just got to get away from that pile of papers you brought home to work on, go for it. This is standard issue escapist fare, true, but the stars really do shine.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh dear!
Review: I though that this was going to be a good thriller when I hear about it-two good stars, a good cast, and a good plot, but...oj dear, how wrong I was! The only way you can really enjoy this waste of your time is if you are a fan of Julia Roberts-although all she really does is run around evading her persuers and then whispering in an effort to simulate fear and grief. Denzel Washington is a wonderful actor, but he only comes into the story proper about half way through, and the script does not give him much chance of originality in his performance.. At the beginning I though the film would improve, and that it was just build up, but when it stayed the same all the way through I nearly screamed in exsasperation. The action set piece, if you could call it that, was a very tame affair, basically, Julia and Denzel running around in a multi-storey car park being chased by villians. What this film needed was some good action to relieve the boredom, and for Julia NOT TO WHISPER in the vital revelation scene when she explained all. If you want to see a good movie, go somewhere else!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, bad movie
Review: I was excited about seeing this movie because I had read the book, which was pretty decent. I always like to read the book first, and then see the movie. This movie, however, does not do justice to the book.
First, the acting was very bad. Actually, it wasn't very bad, it was awful. I can't believe these other reviews that talk about how awesome the acting was from Roberts and Washington. Personally, I think Denzel Washington's acting is over-rated in every film he's ever made. The characters were just not believable. Secondly, there are several good parts from the book that are left out of the movie, or are not explained. For example, Victor Matiesse is not even seen in the movie. There is a very good scene in the book that adds a lot to the story about an agent visiting Matieese, and one of his goons stealthily kills the fibbie. That would have been great if it were included in the movie. The movie explains the killing of the justices in much more detail, and explains that they did not want the FBI protection; the movie portrays the FBI as a bunch of little schoolgirls. There are so many plot holes in the movie, that I can't see how anyone who hasn't read the book would understand what's going on. I really like Julia Roberts, but this is not one of her better films.
John Grisham has written a good novel, don't use this movie to base your opinion of his work. He writes very well though-out novels and develops the characters well, he also does a good job of explaining what is going on. This is just a very bad adapatation. I should have saved myself 2 and a half hours and picked up another Grisham novel.
Rating:
Summary: ENGAGING, WELL MADE THRILLER JULIA ROBERTS IS SUPERB!
Review: Juila Roberts in a great role shows her true acting abilltiy and proves she can hold her own in a serous role. Roberts plays Darby Shaw, a law student who writes a brief concering the mysterious deaths of two supreme court justices and soon is marked for death by hired killers and crooked cops. On the run she trusts no one except one man an ambitous reporter(played to perfection by Denzel Washington)who wants to keep her alive so she can tell her story. Amazing film with the right amount of suspense and intrigue, and what`s so good about this film it managed to rise above the cliches that usually surronds this genre there was absolulty no love angle between the two leads just an innocent woman on the run type of story. Based on the novel by john grisham and probably the best one adapted to the big screen. A little too long 2½ hours long but it reached a staisfying conclusion. The best scene was the On foot chase scene in the underground parking lot. Great movie a must for any Julia Roberts Fan.
Rating:
Summary: THE PELICAN BRIEF
Review: Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington headline and Alan J. Pakula directs this first - rate thriller based on the bestselling book by John Grisham. Two Supreme Court justices have been murdered and a lone law student turns her suspicions about the deaths into a speculative brief that sends shock waves into the highest levels of government. She and a determined investigative reporter want to tell the world what they have uncovered, if they live to tell about it. The race is on and these two are more than runners. They're moving targets.
Rating:
Summary: Not even briefly good.
Review: Julia Roberts is Darby Shaw, the kind of brilliant, beautiful and ambitious character that drive potboiler novels like 'The Pelican Brief'. A law student at Tulane, Shaw rounds off her legal education by sleeping with one of her professors (Sam Shepard) and floating a conspiracy theory linking the mysterious deaths of two Supreme Court justices. When Shaw's theory - blaming powerful land developers for murder ' becomes circulated in a legal brief, she finds her life turned upside-down. Friends of hers - all having have read the brief ' die and Darby goes on the run. Meanwhile, the president (Robert Culp, playing a morally bankrupt chief, less a right-winger than merely in sway of the rich) tries to squelch an FBI led investigation of one of his friends. Tying the mysterious deaths to a top-level cover-up, a Washington Post reporter (Denzel Washington) teams up with Darby to crack the case. They follow the trail that takes them across the country and eventually brings them to the home of a dead lawyer. This has to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. borrowing elements of more deservedly remembered Alan Pakula movies like "All the President's Men" and "Parallax View", "Brief" is utterly contrived. It's not as inspired as it is clearly dependent on the cynicism of a jaded public for our leaders and the law. When you look past this flick's slim thrills and its laughable message, nothing left makes sense. The script tosses in a high-priced hitman (Stanley Tucci) only to dispatch him quickly. Other eliminate their enemies with well-placed car bombs. We're supposed to believe that guys who are expert in killing people without raising suspicions will rely on big loud car bombs going off on public streets in front of everybody, and of course they can kill just about anybody but a crusading journalist and a law student. We're also supposed to believe that Darby's brief, based on unsubstantiated suppositions, is enough to warrant her death - you'd think that those with power are smart enough to know that most routinely dismiss conspiracy theories for that reason. Roberts and Washington pick up the trail leading to an oil and gas lawyer who may be able to tie their loose ends together - a warning sign that our heroes won't so much as solve the mystery as just get the secret out of somebody smarter than they are. ('Brief' is typical of modern thrillers populated by brilliant characters who nevertheless never actually do any detective work - virtually all relying on some mysterious stranger to walk out of the gloaming with all of the answers.) Over two hours of overwrought tension aren't enough to match the detective-smarts you'll get in a single half-hour of Scooby Doo. The final insult is the leaden seriousness that Pakula bathes the script in. We not only have to believe this flick, we have to believe IN it. What's impossible to believe is how the 'Pelican Brief' poses any danger at all. You'd think that a cabal of rich right-wingers could afford to do a better job than a law student could uncover. You'd also think that had Shaw been brilliant enough to solve the mystery, she would have been smart enough to realize the danger it posed her. How can she be so brilliant and dumb at the same time? A question the film can't be bothered to answer.
Rating:
Summary: Law Student Topples Government
Review: Julia Roberts stars as a law student who writes a brief about the murder of two Supreme Court justices, and through a series of connections, the brief ends up in the hands of the FBI and the White House. Her conclusions are far-fetched but plausible, and as people connected to her and the case start dying, it's obvious she has stumbled onto something. She goes on a run for her life, aided by Washington journalist Denzel Washington, who thinks she's on the right track. Roberts and Washington are very effective in the leads, underplaying their roles and allowing the suspense and plot to drive the film. The supporting cast has a lot of big names, each one solid, from Robert Culp's goofy president to Sam Sheperd's alcoholic law professor. The truth and the contents of the Pelican Brief are gradually revealed to the audience, keeping the viewer's interest, and although the film is long, there is enough chasing and intrigue to sustain it. Only at the very end, after the climax, does the film really lose steam. Most of the last ten minutes should have been cut or rewritten. The direction by Alan J. Pakula is competent, if not spectacular, and even though I have enjoyed other Grisham films more, I would recommend this for a good evening's entertainment.
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