Date: Fri 07-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Devil's-Advocate-Playing

Full Text:

(rev "Devil's Advocate" for Now Playing)

Now Playing-

Devil-May-Care Attitude Sinks Hollywood's Halloween Craft

By Trey Paul ALexander III

Talk about a "can't miss" premise: the Devil, he of the original serpentine

attire, becomes a real snake-in-the-grass by taking on the guise of a lawyer

in present-day New York! That's the idea behind The Devil's Advocate , a

horror film masquerading as a legal thriller, which nevertheless, despite its

great concept, does indeed miss the mark.

Appropriately themed for Halloween weekend, this Keanu Reeves-Al Pacino

vehicle could have been an intriguing, clever and subtle exploration of the

manipulations and machinations of the legal profession and Creation's first

fallen angel. Instead, it is an explicit, excessive exercise with a hint of

greater ambitions but only a remnant of the better, leaner movie it could have

become.

Reeves stars as Kevin Lomax, a cocky young prosecutor from Gainesville whose

sterling record at convictions has become southern legend. But it is Kevin's

conversion into an equally effective defense attorney that gains the attention

of a big Manhattan firm looking to hire the slick Florida boy. Upon the advice

of his beautiful, ambitious wife, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron), and against the

better judgment of his worrying, church-going mom (Judith Ivey), Kevin packs

his things and journeys with Mary Ann to the Big Apple.

Before long, Kevin is the hit of his new firm and wins the trust of his boss,

John Milton (Pacino), an enigmatic, magnetic figure who takes the newcomer

under his wing. Soon, Kevin and Mary Ann are wined, dined, given keys to a

extravagant apartment in an exclusive building and welcomed into exclusive

society circles. No matter that Kevin's mom still senses impending danger or

that Mary Ann even begins to suspect something wicked this way comes. Kevin

becomes absorbed in a high-profile murder case and affords no distractions to

his work on this trial or his association with Milton and his dark, murky

motivations.

Remember as a child when your mother told you not to touch the stove because

it was hot? Or when she said that if you played with matches you might burn

the house down? Most of us didn't need to see our hands scalded or our homes

torched just to believe her. The Devil's Advocate , on the other hand, seems

intent on not only convincing us Beelzebub and his minions are bad and that

evil can be enticing, but on showing us the grisly details on how unsuspecting

people may fall prey to their devices.

Married man Kevin doesn't just fall under the trance of a beguiling co-worker,

but director Taylor Hackford makes us privy to Kevin's lustful, explicit

fantasies; Mary Ann, left alone in a spooky apartment, begins to suspect

hellish deeds afoot, and every one of her ghoulish visions and vivid

nightmares are passed along to a cowering audience; and Milton avails himself

of every gleaming smile, every crude anecdote, and every hedonistic vice to

sway Kevin to do his bidding. The problem is not so much the inclusion of

these scenes, but that they are so bloated, unbridled and unrestrained.

The Devil's Advocate , rated R, is not without its strengths: an unusually

animated Reeves; a scenery chewing, wickedly leering Pacino; and a

captivating, star-making portrayal by Theron, who intensely grasps Mary Ann's

descent into dementia. Plus, there are glimmers of wit in a script that gives

us a character named Milton ("It is better to reign in Hell than serve in

Heaven") and a climatic monologue in which he expounds on free-will and

preaches on why his hands-on approach to earthly events is better than what he

deems God's aloof, "absentee landlord" status (the Devil always was a crafty

one with words). However, the movie's explicit sexuality, nudity, violence and

profanity irreparably mar its more provocative assets.