The Gingerbread Man (1998)

A rather seedy attorney (Kenneth Branagh) with a dubious reputation takes on a client (Embeth Davidtz) that he's also sleeping with. Her homeless father (Robert Duvall) has mental issues and she wants him institutionalized. But what, at first, would seem to be a simple case spirals into kidnapping and murder. The great director Robert Altman had had an unfortunate run of critical and commercial failures recently so this "director for hire" commercial thriller based on an unpublished John Grisham story probably seemed like a good idea. But Altman was never a "commercial" director and he has no feel for pulp material like this. A Polanski or a De Palma might have better served the material and given it the polish and style it needs. But there's a major problem that's inherent in the writing. Branagh's character is unlikable, a total jerk, an unethical lawyer and a lousy father and worst of all, not too bright. As the story unfolded, I could sense something just wasn't right, things didn't make sense. Now, if I could figure that out, surely he could too but no, he just walks right through the door. I couldn't feel sorry for him, he deserved what he got. With Robert Downey Jr., Daryl Hannah, Tom Berenger and Famke Janssen.