Cuba Gooding Jr. stars in this unusual film about a lawyer who became a plagiarist writer and then a murderer. It's sort of funny, but this film shows a lawyer committing the very acts that he defends his clients on. Gooding plays Lawson Russell, a lawyer whose conscience withdraws his counsel in defending a guilty man. This ends up getting him disbarred. While no longer a lawyer, Russell still gets to keep his integrity as he does charter fishing down in Florida.<br /><br />The entire film is recounted by Russell and his stream of consciousness (or lack thereof). It follows his progression from a noble man to one with little integrity. Russell's plagiarism of a story from a dead writer acts like some Faustian pact with the devil, where riches are showered quick only to be followed with manic torture. Eric Stoltz plays a rich playboy client of Russell's and Tom Berenger is Clifford Dubose, a detective working some related murders. The shallow and erotic Janine DeVrie is played by Ashley Laurence. I should warn you that the film becomes surprisingly risqué in some of the scenes with her. This is somewhat shocking not only due to the sexual situations (explicit with Cuba Gooding Jr.), but also the huge departure from the film's story-telling feel.<br /><br />As to one of the main ingredients necessary to make this story work, plausibility, I will say it was a bit up in the air. (*SPOILER*)I had trouble believing Russell didn't see through that old-man getup and didn't think the ending was very likely, even though it does seem like a heck of an idea for a conclusion. This certainly was a different film for you Cuba. 4/10