Put simply, "The Rainmaker" did everything right.
First, it took a bestselling John Grisham novel, grabbed a first- rate director (Francis Ford Coppola) at the top of his game, and added a cast that most moviemakers dream of.
Taking the lead role as Rudy Baylor, a down-on-his-luck underdogish southern lawyer is Matt Damon, the wide-eyed drug addict from "Courage Under Fire" - possibly the hottest up-and-comer in Hollywood today.
Amid the co-stars:
Jon Voight plays Leo F. Drummond, the high-priced lawyer for the insurance company Baylor dares take on, who waves his experience in the young 'un's face, and is one of the best bad guys in the business.
Claire Danes finds her element as Kelly Riker, a beaten wife who somehow manages to fight back, kill her husband (in self-defense), and try to put her life back together.
Danny Devito, after a less-than-stellar performance in "L.A. Confidential" plays Dick Schiflett, a "paralawyer" who has been practicing for years, without the aid of a license, since he never passed the bar. Schiflett helps Baylor through the case with his strange mix of legal savvy and willingness to break every rule in the book.
And Mickey Rourke, now limited to character roles as sneaky bad guys, plays J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone, a lawyer under heat from the FBI after some shady business deals. Bruiser has a small part in the film, but Rourke makes every moment count.
With all that, who needs a story?
Perhaps no one, but "The Rainmaker" has a good one of those, too. Baylor, just out of law school, befriends a twenty-something leukemia victim who is about to die because his insurance company fails to pay up. Almost singlehandedly, Baylor takes on a high-priced, high-powered legal team, and (sorry, but you must have known) wins.
Besides a little too much narration for my taste (my creative writing teacher would tell Mr. Coppola to "show, don't tell!"), "The Rainmaker" is a near-perfect crime drama. While Damon may not be as talented as Matthew McConaghey, this film ought to do the same for his career as it did for the star of "A Time to Kill."
Grade: A