dale-51649 The film is based on an interesting true story , and could have made a good movie. . Unfortunately, it quickly devolves into a lifetime network cliché.Basically, a hard luck white trash family becomes even unluckier when one of the brothers is falsely accused and convicted of murder. Hillary Swank reprieves her role as a poorly educated but not too dumb white trasher, good looking but evidently too poor for orthodontic care.The film has high rent cinematography , but low brow script writing. This is demonstrated early on when , yes, an adult male insults a child, and is promptly beaten to a pulp. This transpires at a wedding reception where a man questions the wisdom of bringing a small child to a rowdy, white trash jamboree. Sam Rockwell, all 170 lbs of him, instantly beats the guy, nearly popping his head like a zit. A toothy swank looks on, smiling like a mutant hyena.It's not that the above scene is a Lifetime Channel cliché, it's that ALL the scenes are. Swank puts her life on hold to defend her brother, getting her GED and a law school degree from some matchbook degree mill. In spite of her disadvantaged background, she is smarter than every man the legal system has ever produced. Major credibility problems, even for the Oxygen Network crowd. They are usually satisfied by simplistic "woman better than men" stories but this one is silly even for them.Hillary Swank has made a career out of these kind of roles, and her "unusual " appearance has simultaneously attracted and puzzled audiences for years. I once heard her humble brag about not having health insurance when she got her first Oscar. I hope she can afford a dental plan now.

estebangonzalez10 "I'm sorry you wasted your life on this. Your brother killed that woman."Inspired by a remarkable true story in which a sister practically gives up almost two decades of her life in order to save her brother who has been convicted of murder and has been sentenced to life in prison. It's an amazing and inspirational story, but unfortunately the film suffers from being overly manipulative at times and too conventional. Conviction has Oscar bait written all over it, and despite having a heavy clichéd script the excellent cast elevate the film and make it worth recommending. Many people remember Tony Goldwyn from his villainous role in Ghost, but he has also directed a couple of rom-coms. This is the first time he directs a fully dramatic film and it suffers from being overly sentimental at times (the score is way too melodramatic). The film is saved however by its excellent cast. Hillary Swank is amazing as this working mother who decides to put her personal aspirations aside to help save her imprisoned brother. In order to do so she decides to finish High School and go through law school. Not an easy task considering Betty Anne has two children to maintain. Sam Rockwell plays Betty's brother, Kenny, who was arrested in 1983 for a brutal murder. Betty and Kenny had been very close since they were young because their mother was constantly working so we get several flashbacks of them spending their childhood days breaking into nearby homes and dreaming of a better life. This always got Kenny into trouble with the local authorities. Years later, when a woman was found brutally murdered in a trailer near to Kenny's place he was the first suspect. After some incriminating evidence against him he is sentenced and that is when her loving sister decides to dedicate her life to free him. The degree of devotion she has for her brother is unprecedented and truly inspirational.The question one asks throughout the film is how far Betty is willing to go to help her brother considering it has led her to lose her husband and any attempt to have a life of her own. It has even affected her relationship with her two children, played by Owen Campbell and Conor Donovan, who feel neglected at times. There isn't one second in which she questions what she is doing and takes it more as a responsibility and a debt she has for her brother. Swank gives a powerful performance and her devotion to Kenny is completely believable. Rockwell is also great as Kenny in both the prison scenes and in some of the flashback scenes where we see some of his wild behavior. He plays his character extremely well, up to the point where you are never really sure whether or not this guy is guilty for the crime he has committed. The only person who seems convinced about his innocence is his sister and that made the film all the more compelling. Minnie Driver plays Abra Rice, one of the law students who befriends Betty and helps her on the case. Her relationship with Betty could've been explored a bit better, but the entire focus of the film was on Betty's devotion and effort to try to free her brother so she is only introduced as this friend who helped with the case. The family dynamics between Betty and her children and between her and her ex husband is barely touched upon because the filmmaker's devotion was focused on the relationship between the two siblings. It didn't hurt that they were played by Rockwell and Swank, two extremely talented actors. I'm a huge fan of Sam Rockwell and I could personally watch anything he does so I might be a bit biased but their relationship in this film is what sold this movie. Melissa Leo has some small scenes in the film, but her presence is always welcomed. The film has its flaws and at times the pacing of the film does begin to drag and feel repetitive, but the performances more than make up for it at the end. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

Theo Robertson This should have been an impacting human drama about injustice . Based on a true story about a man Kenny convicted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for murder it revolves around the man's sister , a lower working class girl called Betty Anne working as a waitress who convinced of Kenny's innocence goes to law school in order prove he did not commit the crime , This is inspiring stuff on paper , a real life David versus Goliath and since it stars Hilary Swank a women who herself is an example of a real life fairytale this should in theory be a great film . However it never really takes offOne thinks much of the problem may lie in the screenplay by Pamela Gray . I'm probably going to receive some stick here but I went in to the film with a very open mind and for periods felt I was watching some chick flick on the Hallmark channel . The screenplay lacks a narrative drive . . I expected plot turn after plot turn of Betty Anne building up hope for Kenny only to have these hopes dashed after one obstacle after the other gets in the way . This isn't really the case the screenplay meanders to a large extent in order to build up that there's a very strong family bond between Betty Anne and her brother . This is unnecessary and holds the story up to a degree . I for one would have preferred it if the story concentrated on an innocent man knowing he is innocent finding himself facing the rest of his life in a hellhole prison but the story is told through the eyes of Betty Anne . This is understandable but there's not much brevity to the storytelling and the film never reaches its full potential despite the best efforts of the cast

SeriousJest As a practicing attorney with substantial trial and appellate experience, I usually hate movies and shows about law, especially the courtroom scenes. Directors often "Hollywoodize" compelling and exciting real-life cases, "dumbing down" the American legal system, and adding unnecessary dramatic factors that actually result in making them cheesy, hokey, or outright ridiculous. Moreover, these Hollywood court scenes mislead the American public about how our courts work. Of course, if you are not a lawyer, you may not care much until the next time you're on your soapbox ranting about how Casey Anthony got one over on our "broken" legal system; but try to imagine being a football fan and watching a movie in which the heroic team scores a 10-point touchdown to win the game.Rockwell's hopelessness when Swank visits him in jail, and Swank's attempts to inspire hope and refusal to cut his last lifeline, are nothing short of brilliant. The whole cast, for that matter, is top- notch, and delivers an outstanding performance throughout. Ele Bardha did not have many speaking lines, but his non-verbal performance was textbook.This film is only based on a true story, and not a documentary, so it's obviously not 100% representative of the real Waters case. However, the movie is very realistic, and relies on its compelling story and convincing actors, rather than Hollywood courtroom gimmicks. This is one of my favorite legal movies, and I plan to research the actual case further. Anyone who has dreamed of going to law school to fight injustice should see this movie, as should anyone who is fascinated by the law. Attorneys should keep a copy of this film in their collections, and put it on every once in a while when they need a reminder of why they "crossed the bar" in the first place.