“The Lincoln Lawyer” is the best courtroom-drama I have seen in a long time.  This movie is both engaging from start to finish, filled with mystery, and the acting by the cast is stellar. I know in recent years that Mathew McConaughey has been a symbol for romantic-comedies, or should I say mediocre romantic comedies, but his performance in “The Lincoln Lawyer” is fierce and convincing. It’s not really a new role for him because he has played lawyers in the past such as in “A Time to Kill”, “Amistad” and “13 Conversations about One Thing”, all these movies are superb but I think McConaughey’s performance in “The Lincoln Lawyer” is his best role to date.

He stars as Mickey Haller, a very street smart, charismatic and sometimes cocky defense attorney in Los Angeles who mostly operates in the back of his Lincoln Sedan (hence the title). He shown to be a very successful defense attorney because he has kept countless people away from jail. That is until one day a bondsman, named Val (John Leguizamo), tells him about a potential new client named Louis Roulet, played by Ryan Phillippe. He a rich kid from Beverly Hills who is being charged with assaulted rape and attempted murder. He repentantly says he didn’t do it and says he was set up by someone else. However, Haller finally meets his match as the case takes a turn in very different direction and darker things start to develop. I don’t want to say more because I don’t want to spoil it for you since; I want you to figure the mystery out for yourself.

Along with McConaughey, the supporting cast is equally good.  Ryan Phillippe gives his best performance in years as the suspect. It’s very realistic and intimidating; he tries to tell people he didn’t do it and the film keeps us on the fence if he did or didn’t do it throughout the entire movie. Despite Michael Pena having a short screen-time he makes an effective and memorable performance as one of Haller’s previous clients. At first Pena gives a sympathetic performance and then superbly transitions into a darker personality that’s equivalently effective. There are also some small performances that are good, such as William H. Macy’s role as a quirky private investigator and Marisa Tomei as his ex-wife and prosecutor. Even though she does like him, she can’t stand his line of work.  She doesn’t like that he keeps bad people on the streets and I think that has a small internal conflict on Haller because we can sometimes see it in his body language.

Those who were caught up in the intriguing mystery in Michael Connelly’s book, from which the film is based off, will keep guessing till the very end. This film does a good job at pacing that momentum throughout the film. I can’t remember the last time a mystery film kept me interested for so long. There is also some good humor and funny lines in the films as well. There is also nothing predictable in its story line and there are thrilling and surprising twists that will make you appreciate this film more. So in an overview; is this the best courtroom/mystery film in the last five years? Absolutely! Is it one of the best? Not quite, because there are a few superior courtroom dramas that first come to mind but “The Lincoln Lawyer” is still a worthy entry to the genre and is one of the best films I have seen so far this year.

*** ½   |R|  119 minutes