After Francis Coppola's better-than-expected The Rainmaker, another maverick American director, Robert Altman, tackles the ubiquitous John Grisham. Set in soggy Savannah – you'd never recognise the same city as in Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil –The Gingerbread Man doesn't centre on an up and coming young lawyer, as most Grisham stories do, but on an experienced, divorced attorney, Rick Magruder, played by Kenneth Branagh, affecting a rich southern accent.
One night, after winning a case in which he defended a man who shot a local policeman, he gives a lift to Mallory Embeth Davidtz, a waitress whose car has been stolen – by her father, she claims. The lift turns into a one night stand, and next day Magruder initiates legal action against Mallory's father, Robert Duvall – but, of course, things aren't what they seem, and Magruder finds himself – and his children – in danger.
The Gingerbread Man isn't typical of either Grisham or Altman, but it's a solid, well-crafted thriller nevertheless. Altman's constantly inventive direction, his fascination for intrigue and duplicity, his trademark use of the zoom lens and of overlapping dialogue, make this basically rather nonsensical story riveting viewing. Perhaps too much so, because by the end you feel almost as manipulated as the hero – a role in which Kenneth Branagh appears at times a little too bewildered.
