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After finding out about his wife’s affair, aeronautics engineer Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) comes home early from work one day and shoots her. The gardener alerts the police, and Detective Rob Nunally (Billy Burke) is sent in to talk Crawford out of the house. Once Rob’s inside, Crawford confesses to the crime. The whole thing seems like an open-and-shut case—or at least that’s what young assistant DA Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is told.
Beachum’s stellar record has just gotten him a cushy job in a high-profile corporate law office. He’s on the way out the door—but the Crawford case is a quick one that should be over in no time. Seeing it as just another quick win, he agrees to take it.
Problems arise, however, when the ever-confident Crawford—who’s chosen to represent himself—announces in court that Nunally was the one having an affair with his wife. Suddenly, the confession that Nunally took is thrown out. The only way to convict Crawford is to produce the murder weapon—which no one’s been able to find.
Humiliated in court, Beachum becomes even more determined to send Crawford to jail, even if it means putting his cushy new job—and his relationship with his gorgeous new boss, Nikki (Rosamund Pike)—on the line.
Fracture is a court thriller that’s far from thrilling. The story is bland and predictable, and the resolution is anything but gripping. Add in a pair of unlikeable characters, and you’re in for a long, boring ride.
Beachum is the standard heartless, money-hungry young lawyer who, as time passes, somehow grows a soul. You’re supposed to want him to win—to learn his lesson and put the bad guy in jail—but he’s such a conceited jerk that you won’t really care either way. Throughout the movie, Gosling seems unsure of who he wants his character to be. Is he a smooth southern boy with an accent, or not? His character’s accent comes and goes at breakneck speed—much like his bizarre relationship with his new boss. The relationship has no purpose (other than adding a scene with a scantily clad hot chick), and it’s a little hard to believe that a taboo office romance would go from zero to Thanksgiving-with-the-family in about a week.
Crawford is just as perplexing. Sure, he’s a smart, cocky old guy who thinks he can get away with anything, humiliating the equally cocky young ADA in the process. But his bumbling act makes the court scenes comical—and the fact that he looks like a maniacal old turtle just makes it all a bit sillier. Hopkins also seems to have a problem deciding if his character should have an accent or not—and it comes and goes as freely as Gosling’s does.
Thanks to the disappearing accents and silly courtroom one-liners, the lack of suspense, and the implausible story, there’s no need to feel guilty if you skip this legal bore.
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