The Firm

After stumbling with "Havana" a couple of years ago, director-producer Sydney Pollack is back in form as he hits all the right notes with his adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling thriller "The Firm."

Tom Cruise, who could have been in Grisham's mind as he wrote the book, plays the lead character, Mitch McDeere, a greedy yuppie who has risen above a life of poverty to work his way through law school.

Tops in his class, he's ready for the big bucks — and several law firms are ready to offer just that kind of incentive. But one, a smaller firm in Memphis, tops them all — including a number of unexpected perks. It is, in a manner of speaking, an offer he can't refuse.

If that's not enough, when Mitch and his wife Abbey, an elementary school teacher, visit Memphis, he is impressed by the firm's lawyers, who all seem to belong to one big happy family. Something he never really had.

Abbey is a bit reluctant at first, especially when it begins to sound too much like "The Stepford Wives." (The firm isn't exactly opposed to wives working but it does encourage having children, she's told.)

And then the bottom starts to drop out, as they learn of four lawyers who died in "accidents" and Mitch is approached by the FBI and told that his new employer is a front for Chicago mobsters. The feds, of course, want Mitch to work for them from the inside — but he quickly realizes that whether he's in a witness protection program or working for the Mafia, his life is in serious jeopardy.

So, Mitch enterprises his own plan to break free of both organizations, while attempting to rediscover the reasons that led him to pursue law in the first place.

Cruise is excellent in the lead, proving once again that he's much more than just a pretty face. And the supporting cast is also top-notch, led by Gene Hackman, who is terrific as a world-weary senior member of the firm. Jean Tripplehorn, Gary Busey, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook and David Strathairn all turn in notable work. But a pair of standouts are two players significantly cast against type — Holly Hunter, as the gum-popping secretary who proves she's no bimbo, and Utahn Wilford Brimley, as a vicious villain.

Working with screenwriters Robert Towne ("Chinatown," "Shampoo") and David Rayfiel ("Three Days of the Condor," "Round Midnight"), Pollack ("Tootsie," "The Way We Were," "Out of Africa") has made some substantial changes in Grisham's original story, but there is a steady subtext of irony that perfectly complements the new ending, and there is a lot more wit to the dialogue. (David Rabe also gets a screenwriting credit, though his work was scrapped early on.)

Add to that the solid use of Memphis location work, the snappy Dave Grusin piano score and Pollack's wonderful visual sense, and the result is a film that is fast, funny, romantic and thrilling, with a dream cast that works very well together.

"The Firm" is rated a soft R, mainly for some profanity. There is also violence, a few vulgar remarks and some sexuality.