The Pelican Brief

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The Pelican Brief

PG-13,

1993,

2h 21m,

Mystery & Thriller

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Watchlist

59%

49 Reviews

Tomatometer

61%

50,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

59%

Tomatometer

49 Reviews

61%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Taut thriller about a young law student whose legal brief about the assassination of two Supreme Court justices causes her to be targeted by killers. She realizes just how accurate her accusations have been when her lover and mentor is murdered. Forced to go on the run in New Orleans, she is aided by a journalist who helps her unravel a conspiracy involving senior government figures.

Critics Consensus

Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington are a compelling team in the overlong Pelican Brief, a pulpy thriller that doesn't quite justify the intellectual remove of Alan J. Pakula's direction.

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David Ansen

Newsweek

May 3, 2018

Pakula's always had a cool style, tending toward solemnity, but let's face it, All the President's Men this movie is not. You wish he'd have a little more fun with the pulpy material.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Mar 30, 2009

It's too bad that Pakula allows this 1993 movie to dawdle after its climax, but prior to that he's adept at suggesting unseen menace and keeping things in motion.

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Brian Lowry

Variety

Nov 5, 2008

Pakula has improved on Grisham's book by excising much of the detritus, crafting a taut, intelligent thriller that succeeds on almost every level.

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John Ferguson

Radio Times

Jan 25, 2024

4/5

The two leads are fine, but the real coup is the depth of talent in the supporting cast - Sam Shepard and John Heard are among those delivering killer cameos, but everyone is eclipsed by Robert Culp's witty portrayal of a shifty president.

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Quentin Crisp

Christopher Street

May 26, 2022

The movie has a foolish ending, but it is worth seeing.

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Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Jun 24, 2019

3/4

Not on par with Alan J. Pakula's preeminent paranoid cinema. But depicting a POTUS at odds with his FBI director and creating obstruction of justice concerns aligns it with Pakula's other preternaturally predictive potboilers.

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Hagrid G

Apr 27, 2019

I was completely engrossed by the plot, despite its complexity and the unbelievable but fascinating premise. Denzel and Julia are both great and believable. It is hard to think of two actors who are more intrinsically believable in ordinary-people roles. I continue to be very impressed by the way that Julia Roberts plays all her roles straight; she respects her audience most than more actors.

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Theodore R

Apr 22, 2019

Decent political thriller, though events of the late 201Xs make it seem a bit naive regarding the power of revelations of obstruction of justice. Still worth a watch if you are in the mood.

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Feb 2, 2019

The best courtroom movie ever made!

Kylo S

Dec 10, 2018

How can the director of Klute, The Parallax View, All The President's Men, and Presumed Innocent go wrong? By starting with a lousy script, and working with actors who cannot overcome their star power to provide any subtlety or nuance. Those other films are among my favorites, and have plenty of A-List talent, but they're not forced to appear heroic or speak dumbed down dialogue. This story is complex, but there's no depiction of how Julia Roberts actually goes about creating her famous Brief, putting the pieces together. That should have been the heart of this movie. Instead we get caricatured hit guys, newspaper editors and a hunky law professor, with no build up of tension or the requisite intelligence. There are plenty of people who couldn't follow the events in President's Men, but that doesn't mean it should have been simplified, and Pakula was faithful in that pic, one of my favorites. This one is just lazy.

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Albus L

Nov 16, 2018

A realistic conspiracy story that the audience can actually follow.

Finn S

Mar 16, 2018

Rivwrting. The end is a bit overly schmaltzy.

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Alan J. Pakula

Director

Julia Roberts

Darby Shaw

Denzel Washington

Gray Grantham

Sam Shepard

Thomas Callahan

John Heard

Gavin Vereek

Tony Goldwyn

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Synopsis

Taut thriller about a young law student whose legal brief about the assassination of two Supreme Court justices causes her to be targeted by killers. She realizes just how accurate her accusations have been when her lover and mentor is murdered. Forced to go on the run in New Orleans, she is aided by a journalist who helps her unravel a conspiracy involving senior government figures.

Director: Alan J. Pakula
Producer: Pieter Jan Brugge
Production Co: Warner Bros.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 17, 1993, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 28, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $100.7M
Runtime: 2h 21m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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