OWEN'S BESTS
3. Michael Clayton
It's rare for a film to get almost nothing but rave
reviews only to end up underrated. The reason
I think that that happened to Tony Gilroy's
richly engrossing legal-malfeasance drama is that it
was pegged, a little too automatically, as a genre film.
That it undeniably is, only it doesn't feel like one. It
feels like life that's been bent, without warning, into the
shape of a thriller. Tom Wilkinson, as a corrupt lawyer
who loses his marbles in order to find his soul, does a
memorable piece of high-wire acting, and George
Clooney, as the smooth fixer who doesn't realize how
deep in the muck he is until he's drowning in it, has a
heroic fire worthy of old Hollywood. He reminds you
that great movie-star acting is great acting, period.
The Best & Worst of 2007
The year that was: Our choices -- and yours -- for the highs and lows in pop culture

Myles Aronowitz


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