Trial and Error
November 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Hangover Books & Movies
Charles Tuttle is a mild-mannered attorney sent to a small desert town a few days before his wedding to defend a cry-baby con artist. Stars Jeff Daniels Michael Richards and Rip Torn. Jonathan Lynn, who directed the hit film My Cousin Vinny, again takes on another lightweight comedy about a trial in a small town featuring…
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This movie has no plot, no story, nothing. We went to see it in the theater and left half way through it. This is the only movie we have actually left the theater it was so bad. Don’t waste your money.
Rating: 1 / 5
I probably wouldn’t have seen this movie if it hadn’t been for Michael Richards (Seinfeld’s Kramer). And I would have been right not to do so, because the only thing that makes this film even remotely funny is Richards enormeous talent for physical comedy. He can do the most amazing things with his face and body, and during the first third of the film you get to laugh a lot. But then it gets boring. After that the film tries to tell a story that no one want’s to hear. Had it instead concentrated on Richards efforts as the world’s worst lawyer, and how he tries to defend the world’s dumbest criminal, this film might have been really good. As it is it’s hardly worth seeing.
Rating: 2 / 5
If you can look at this movie in two different ways, separating the two and realizing that one is far superior to the other, you will very much enjoy this film. I won’t bother summarizing plot, so let me get straight into it:
As a comedy, this movie is certainly up to par. Most of the courtroom scenes are quite funny, and Daniels is good in the role of the impatient, worried, and upset lawyer (now actor). One scene in particular, where Jennifer Coolidge (”Stifler’s Mom” in American Pie) poses as a doctor literally puts me in hysterics every time I watch it.
Where this movie fails, however, is its attempt to be a heartwarming romance, with Jeff Daniels having to choose over the girl he should marry, and the girl he really loves.
Still, this movie is quite funny overall, and if you can forgot about the romantic aspect, it’s definitely worth your while.
Rating: 4 / 5
Don’t get me wrong. I like Michael Richards(Seinfeld is my second favorite show of all time just below the Simpsons) but this is altogether too ho hum. I never laughed out loud once during this entire movie. There were a few parts that were mildly amusing but the movie could never seem to build any momentum. Just when it would seem like it was getting good it would switch to a scene with Jeff Daniels and suddenly not so funny. Jeff Daniels best comedic role is, of corse, Dumb and dumber and he has a few good moments here but mostly he just plays the straight guy and his scenes just seem to drag the movie down. But I suppose if you like romantic comedy fluff you might not totally hate this movie
Rating: 2 / 5
The clever TRIAL AND ERROR (1997) stars Jeff Daniels as an attorney who’s recently made partner at his prestigious L.A. law firm. Set to marry the boss’s daughter in just a few days, Daniels is sent to a tiny Nevada town to request a continuance in a fraud case. His firm’s client (Rip Torn) is charged with selling to 65 people “engraved portraits of President Lincoln” which are nothing more than shiny new pennies!
Daniels arrives in town to find his best friend (Michael Richards) has organized a surprise bachelor party for him. After drinking too much, Daniels says the wrong thing (”I’m an attorney”) to a couple of guys and he gets knocked cold. He’s given painkillers and is supposed to take one every three hours but mistakenly takes three every hour.
By morning, Daniels is too bombed to appear in court. When he passes out and can’t be revived, Richards, an out of work actor, does what he thinks is a “walk-on.” He pretends to be the lawyer and asks for a continuance but the prosecutor (Jessica Steen) demands that the trial go forward. So now Richards is trapped and must continue the charade of being Torn’s attorney.
This is a very humorous movie, with great rapport between Daniels and Richards, Richards and Steen and Daniels and Charlize Theron, who plays a waitress that Jeff falls in love with.
Best of all however is Austin Pendleton, the judge. He steals every scene he’s in and gets the film’s biggest laugh. After sitting in frustration through a farce of a trial ineptly conducted by the bumbling Richards, and having to listen to the perjuring Torn’s bizarre life story which includes a pumpkin costume, a fire on Lake Michigan and an orphanage, once closing arguments have been presented the dyspeptic Pendleton clearly brightens and with a toothy grin announces to no one in particular: “Well, this trial is almost over!” In print it doesn’t seem at all funny, but you have to see this moment in context with the entire courtroom fiasco.
If you’ve yet to see TRIAL AND ERROR, you’re in for a real treat when you do! As of 2/09, it’s available on either DVD or VHS for a single engraved portrait of President Lincoln!
Also from director Jonathan Lynn:
MY COUSIN VINNY (1992). (VHS edition) (DVD edition)
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.
(5.4) Trial and Error (1997) – Jeff Daniels/Michael Richards/Charlize Theron/Jessica Steen/Austin Pendleton/Alexandra Wentworth/Jennifer Coolidge/Lawrence Pressman/Gerry Spence
Rating: 4 / 5