Criminal Law (film)

Plot

Attorney Ben Chase successfully defends Martin Thiel, a wealthy, young playboy, getting him acquitted of a series of brutal murders — only to find out later that Thiel is indeed a serial killer. Since Thiel cannot be tried again for his crimes, Chase tries to get him to incriminate himself before he can kill again.

Cast

Reception

Criminal Law received a decidedly unfavorable reaction from critics, with a 33% "rotten" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert called the film "a textbook example of a movie going wrong before our very eyes."

Oldman's performance is generally regarded as one of the worst of his career. The film marks his first use of an American accent, which was derided by many critics for rendering his dialogue "forced and stilted". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave a scathing appraisal of the performance, writing: "Oldman is a powerhouse... But what's a British actor doing playing a Harvard attorney in a Boston-based movie shot in Montreal? Flailing about like a drowning man, that's what. Oldman's [accent is] laughably in-and-out." He added that "Bacon delivers the film's one modulated performance — and he's the psycho."