The Client (1994)

By CinemaSerf

Brad Renfro delivers well here as the young lad caught up in bizarre suicide/murder/gangster drama that also gives Susan Sarandon a decent kick at the ball too. He is “Mark”, who is playing with his brother near their trailer home when he encounters a would-be suicide who has plugged the exhaust into his car. He is spotted and thinks that maybe he is due for the same fate, but when the fella just blows his brains out the young “Mark” manages to escape - only to find his brother has gone into shock. Next thing, he is in the hospital and neither the clinicians nor the ever-present FBI are inclined to believe his story, especially when a missing US Senator might be involved in this mystery, too. Luckily for him, though, “Mark”recruits the services of “Reggie” (Sarandon) who makes it clear to the rather blasé agent “Roy” (Tommy Lee Jones) that her young charge is entitled to the protections of due process just like everyone else - even if she, too, reckons the lad is being just a touch judicious about the real turn of events that day. What we also learn is that the deceased was a lawyer who counted a local kingpin amongst his clients, and they too want to make sure the boy knows nothing - or certainly that he doesn’t tell anyone else one way or the other! Things soon become quite perilous for this youngster and his family and with the feds getting even more frustrated with him, who can he turn to? The story is energetically directed and moves along pretty quickly as the frying pan-to-fire scenarios accumulate, dozens of pizzas are ordered and the mortuary’s walk-in freezer finds a timely new use. The conclusion is all a bit rushed, but as a standard cat and mouse thriller, it works well enough.