At New York law firm Kenner, Bach & Ledeen, if you have a problem requiring special needs then the man you turn to is Michael Clayton (George Clooney). He’s the in-house "fixer," the guy with the connections and the know-how who can erase the pasts of shoplifting trophy wives and aid crooked politicians in the quest to stay in power.

Tom Wilkinson and George Clooney in Warner Bros.' Michael Clayton

But after 15 years on the job Michael is getting burned out. Cleaning up hit-and-runs and silencing damaging stories before they have a chance to appear in the press for the New England elite is taking its toll. Add in the fact he owes $80,000 to some seedy investors of his own to help clean up his younger brothers mistakes and this once proud lawyer is just about at the very end of his psychological rope.

Things take a shocking turn when the firm’s top litigator Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) has a full-out meltdown during a plaintiff deposition while preparing the defense for his agrochemical company client U/North. Co-founder Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) sends Michael to diffuse the situation and ease tensions between the firm and the client’s representative Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), the two not seeing eye-to-eye pretty much right from the start.

Still, everything looks promising enough until an increasingly paranoid Arthur reveals he has documents which could explode the case and seal the deal for the plaintiffs leading to unprecedented disaster for both his employer and for U/North. In over her head and without all the facts, Karen begins to make decisions which could have tragic consequences for Michael, unknowingly giving the man who can fix anything the last thing he ever could have expected, the opportunity to fix his own soul.

Making his directorial debut, veteran screenwriter Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Ultimatum, Proof of Life) has made a slam-bang 1970’s-style procedural thriller that is absolutely impossible to resist. Most movies are lucky to be half as entertaining as this one, the filmmaker assuredly guiding his superstar cast of professionals to a spellbinding finish sending me out of the theater on a euphoric high. The film is terrific, and for fans hungry for an intelligently constructed pot boiler reminiscent of The Parallax View and All the President’s Men this one should ease their starvation perfectly.

Not that anyone should think this is anything more than slickly produced old school Hollywood gloss. This is a big star, big budget, big story production the likes of which would make Jack Warner sit up in his grave beaming with pride. Audiences aren’t going to take anything deep or meaningful away as they walk out of the theater but they are going to be entertained, most of the time blissfully, and considering how seldom that happens I don’t think people are going to mind just how slick the whole thing actually is. 

Thanks to Gilroy’s razor-sharp script, pinpoint performances by the leads (especially the always underrated Swinton) and spectacular camera work from veteran Robert Elswit (Good Night, and Good Luck) the film is ferociously compelling. I found myself swept up within its instantly absorbing storyline right from the start, and by the time things hurtled towards their rollicking verbally combative crescendo I was sitting right at the very edge of my seat hungering for more. Michael Clayton isn’t just good it’s great, and by the time it was over I was ready to have the projectionist hit the rewind button so I could watch it again.

Film Rating:  êêê1/2  (out of 4)

Additional Links:

-  Interview with writer/director Tony Gilroy by Sara Michelle Fetters
-  Michael Clayton Theatrical Trailer