Michael Clayton may be a passionate pet political project for its star and producer George Clooney, but something got lost in translation.  Clayton goes from incoherent to un-involving, to a total bore, in near record time.  Clayton has some nice acting and is well-made, but after a while, I just didn’t care any longer.  It’s a slow-paced “message” film that at times feels lifeless and overly stagy.  The acting is good (especially from Clooney), but after a while I gave up.  It’s a thriller minus any thrills or nuance.  The only thing I learned from the overrated Michael Clayton was that big corporations are evil and will do anything to keep their dirty little secrets, something I learned when I was old enough to read something more complex than the funny pages of my local paper.  It was like a passionless, colder version of The Rainmaker without a pulse or purpose.

Clooney stars as the title character and plays a fixer for a powerful law firm.  He is called in to fix problems.  The inside joke is that while he’s excellent at his job, his own life is falling apart.  He’s swimming in debt and his brother has his own demons to work out.  Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson (when he’s not foaming at the mouth like a Batman villain on acid) lend strong support.  The first 30-45 minutes of the film make no sense, and by the time it all comes together, you may find yourself checking your watch, and ready for an extended potty break.

 Michael Clayton is well-meaning and well acted, but so what.  It’s not very exciting, its long, and it feels like its trying too hard to be clever.  The script and direction both needed tightening.  There is one great confrontation near the end of the film between Swinton and Clooney, but that was too little, too late.  Clayton is one of the most overrated and over-hyped films of the year so far.  Michael Clayton is just another Oscar pretender more than a real contender. 

 Film Grade:  C+ 

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