Review: “Michael Clayton”

Michael Clayton, directed by Tony Gilroy, US, 2007. Review by Sean on 2/10/08.

What with all the Coens and Codys and Danos and Day-Lewises and Junos and Saorises floating around the Best Picture prize this year, Tony Gilroy’s legal suspense yarn Michael Clayton is best termed the forgotten nominee. It was out early, it doesn’t have the flashy appeal of the other nominees, and a muddled marketing campaign made it a bit uncertain just what the film was actually about. George Clooney, Clayton’s star and raison d’etre, is familiar with this fate; two years ago, his handsome Good Night and Good Luck faded into the background when Brokeback Mountain and Crash emerged as the only two real contenders. Clayton looks to suffer a similar fate, lost amidst There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men. However, while ignoring Good Night would be a shame, there’s no real reason to bother catching Michael Clayton.

Clooney plays the titular attorney, a shadowy and apparently underpaid legal/PR wizard who is termed a “miracle worker,” but thinks of himself as a “janitor.” When a colleague (Tom Wilkinson, in a fine performance) goes off his medication and on a morality trip in the middle of a deposition, Clayton is sent in to clean up; as things spiral out of control, he slowly becomes aware of just how despicable the whole operation is to begin with.

We, of course, have been perfectly aware of the relative sliminess of the big picture from the start; in fact, it seems that everyone but Clayton is well aware that they’re all scumbags (at Clayton’s moment of revelation, a coworker expresses shock that it took Clayton this long to notice how dirty everything around him truly is.) This is the central problem with the film; we don’t really have anyone to root for, any side to take. We’re obviously drawn to Clooney’s star power and charm, but his character is just as blunt and amoral as anyone else in the film (even, at times, more so, particularly in how harsh he is to Wilkinson’s obviously-unstable character.) There is a victim in the great legal morass, but we don’t see much of her, and are often encouraged to look the other way.

With nothing else, we can at least turn to the passion of the actors. Clooney, as always, is remarkably watchable and nuanced, developing an interesting mix of gizzled and edgy at every turn. Wilkinson is really living it, and succeeds in making some questionable dialogue believable (even empathetic.) Tilda Swinton (another nominee) is also strong, looking as if she’s going to shatter into pieces at every moment she’s on screen. It should also be noted that the score, by James Howard, is the glue that holds the film together, dark and driving.

As the film moves, we can’t help but eventually climb on board, if only because Clooney seems to insist that we do. However, the film is ultimately about people we cannot relate to in a world we do not know and are not welcomed into. If the story and the direction were stronger, it wouldn’t matter that this situation is foreign to us; as it is, we feel like slightly disinterested voyeurs. While we’re all catching up on the Oscar nominees (and seeing There Will Be Blood three or four times apiece,) there’s no reason not to forget about Michael Clayton.

Rating: 3 Screens (out of 5)