inspectors71 It's embarrassing to see Peter Yates deliver up this hackneyed courtroom drama. But making a movie with this many clichés is easy, and I'm betting everyone got paid very handsomely for retreading every other legal meller you've ever seen. I knew we were in trouble when they started channeling Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson.Cher, one of the most abrasive and irritating human beings on the planet does underplay her character. She's nicely vulnerable, and she does reasonably well with what little she has to work with. Dennis Quaid plays Dennis Quaid. John Mahoney--sans toupee--is the evil judge (and a Republican to boot!). Liam Neeson, a force of nature in body, spirit, and voice, is a deaf mute.It's like John Belushi in The Blues Brothers--the sunglasses hide his most powerful tool.Oh, well. If this Suspect pops up on your Sunday afternoon movie, and you have absolutely nothing else to do, my advice is to curl up with a cup of coffee and a legal pad. Keep a running cliché total.

seymourblack-1 "Suspect" is a hugely enjoyable courtroom thriller in which a Washington D.C. public defender becomes convinced that the suspect in a murder trial is innocent and also that the case is unwinnable. There doesn't seem to be any way out of her problem until she's offered help from an unexpected source. Unfortunately, accepting the help on offer also involves taking some extremely serious and potentially career threatening risks.Shortly after a Supreme Court Justice commits suicide and a clerk/typist who'd also worked in the Justice Department is found brutally murdered, a homeless man called Carl Wayne Anderson (Liam Neeson) is found with some of the victim's possessions on him and is immediately arrested and accused of her murder.Burned out public defender Kathleen Riley (Cher) is assigned to the case and soon discovers that her client is uncooperative and prone to having violent outbursts. Communication with him improves gradually when she discovers that he's actually a deaf-mute but even then, she finds it almost impossible to find any significant information or evidence that could be helpful for his defence. To make matters worse, the trial judge Matthew Helms (John Mahoney) is unsympathetic to the problems she's experiencing and also seems more preoccupied with other matters as he's said to be the President's nominee for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid) is a jury member whose interest in the case leads him to carry out his own investigations. He wants to assist Riley by passing information on to her but any such collusion is strictly forbidden and punishable by disbarment. The couple do, however, work together and find some pieces of evidence which reveal that the murder victim had discovered evidence of a high level conspiracy to fix a politically important court case in which the Supreme Court Justice had been involved some years earlier. Ultimately this information provides an explanation for the suicide and the murder and also leads to the discovery of the identity of the real murderer.Cher and Dennis Quaid both give good individual performances but are even better when working together. The differences between their personalities lead to some entertaining exchanges and the high stakes involved also create a certain amount of additional tension.Riley is overworked, lonely and in desperate need of a holiday. She's struggling to cope against what seem like insuperable odds and doesn't feel resilient enough to take risks that could lead to her being disbarred. Sanger, on the other hand, is a Capitol Hill lobbyist who's used to pursuing his goals in a ruthless manner and has no inhibitions about cutting corners or acting outside the rules if such actions are likely to produce the desired results."Suspect" has a good plot with many moments of real suspense and the solid performances provided by Cher and Dennis Quaid are also complemented by those of John Mahoney, Liam Neeson and Joe Mantegna.

Neil Doyle SUSPECT is a very watchable little courtroom mystery that deepens as it goes along spinning a plot about corruption in higher places. And there's a nice surprise at the end for anyone trying to figure out who the guilty party is. But it still seems contrived and the quirky relationship between CHER and DENNIS QUAID doesn't help. He's a cocky juror with knowledge of the judicial system who gives her help in solving the case of a man wrongly accused of murder whom she's defending.LIAM NEESON is the wrongly accused and he's excellent in a role that has him as a homeless deaf mute accused of murdering a girl for a mere pittance. Cher is the lawyer assigned to defend him. She does so with sincerity and warmth but the plot line which has her discovering the truth is too far-fetched to be believable.Nevertheless, the tale is constructed in a way that will have you absorbed until the courtroom ending. Good performances by JOE MANTEGNA and JOHN MAHONEY help sustain some credibility. There's a well done chase scene toward the end with the killer revealed only in shadow or shown only from shoes to knees, so that the final revelation of the killer in the courtroom does come as a surprise.Watchable but easily forgettable, with a not too convincing relationship established between CHER and DENNIS QUAID.

dbdumonteil The plot is far-fetched and a lot of elements might seem questionable:the whodunit,Dennis Quaid's cynical character,the umpteenth courtroom drama...But everything vanishes when it comes to depict the Cher/Liam Neeson relationship.Both shine ,especially the latter,who ,being deaf and dumb ,has to express his emotions with his face .He is so good he seems to carry the weight of the world .He was once a man who had something in his life ,but he was betrayed by his country when he returned from Vietnam.How a man who gave the best years of his life (to mention a famous movie)can be treated like a dog ("nine dollars ,it's much when you've got to survive" says his idealistic lawyer)and end up one of the last lonely and wretched?Every scene where they are together rings true.And "suspect" becomes the story of a redemption:physically,morally and intellectually,the homeless man regains his dignity his pride and the right to be a citizen again.There is a complex plot ,dealing with politics ,but it's the luminous Cher and the very moving Neeson,desperately trying to communicate, who will haunt the viewer after the movie.