Other Titles • The Gingerbread Man • Gingerbread Man (1998)
Synopses for The Gingerbread Man (1998)
1.
When released in 1997, The Gingerbread Man was the only John Grisham movie that did not use one of the popular novelist's bestsellers as its inspiration. Rather, it's based on an original screenplay by Grisham that displays the author's familiar flair for Southern characters and settings within a labyrinthine plot propelled by his trademark narrative twists and turns. Sporting a spot-on Georgian accent, Kenneth Branagh plays a Savannah attorney who comes to the assistance of a troubled woman (Embeth Davidtz) and finds himself enmeshed in a scenario involving the woman's father (Robert Duvall) that grows increasingly complex and dangerous, where nothing, of course, is really as it seems. It's a totally absorbing movie made in the modern film-noir tradition; what's most interesting here (and most underrated by critics at the time) is the combination of Grisham's mainstream mystery and the offbeat style of maverick director Robert Altman. Despite a battle with executives that nearly caused Altman to disown the film, The Gingerbread Man demonstrates the director's skill in bringing a fresh, characteristically offbeat approach to conventional material, especially in the use of a threatening hurricane to hold the plot in a state of dangerous urgency. Unfortunately overlooked during its theatrical release, this intelligent thriller provides a fine double bill with Francis Coppola's film of Grisham's The Rainmaker. --Jeff Shannon
(42 votes)
2.
The suspenseful story of a successful lawyer in Savannah, Georgia who becomes obsessed with a mysterious, seductive woman about whom he knows entirely too little. His life begins to fall apart as he peels away the layers of intrigue and mystery that surround her.
(52 votes)
3.
Robert Altman throws his chips into the film noir ring with this stylish, moody thriller that features a spot-on performance by Kenneth Branagh as Rick Magruder, a successful Savannah, Georgia lawyer. After a party celebrating a major victory, he offers Mallory Doss (Embeth Davidtz), a shy waitress whose car has been stolen, a lift home. Their relationship develops quickly and it isn’t long before he sleeps with her. Soon after, however, Rick learns that Mallory's cat has been killed, which she attributes to her religious fanatic father, Dixon Doss (Robert Duvall). As Rick attempts to track Dixon down and protect Mallory from him, a new chain of events is unleashed which threatens to ruin his career and endanger the lives of his two children. Meanwhile, a hurricane looms in the distance, adding even greater tension to Rick’s quickly deteriorating situation. As is typical with all of Altman’s films, a high-profile cast converges to deliver solid individual performances. Standouts include--in addition to Branagh’s hedonistic lawyer--Duvall, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Berenger, Daryl Hannah, and Davidtz. The first John Grisham-inspired film that wasn’t adapted from one of the author's novels, THE GINGERBREAD MAN is more film noir than courtroom drama and is rendered suspensefully by maverick director Altman.
(45 votes)
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