Night Falls on Manhattan

Starring: Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss
Directed by: Sidney Lumet
Released: Paramount Pictures, 1997

There's a point in this movie when an aging district attorney gives advice to his protégé, played by Andy Garcia: "It doesn't matter why you became a lawyer. Only you care. Nobody else gives a shit." It's a good thing no one ever told that to John Grisham, or the world would have missed out on some of the most entertaining bad fiction of the last decade. In that vein, Night Falls on Manhattan isn't as entertaining as a Grisham thriller, and its story of corrupt cops, lawyers, and politicians isn't exactly original. But Garcia is a competent actor, and he has decent support in Richard Dreyfuss, Ian Holm, Ron Leibman, and James Gandolfini to give the old "life isn't always black and white" enough play. Typical of veteran filmmaker Sidney Lumet, the film has its softer moments but doesn't engage in any emotional manipulation; regardless, the film is likely to be forgotten among the director's more memorable titles.