One of my favorite movies (mostly for the gratuitous violence and sardonic humor) is Mel Gibson’s Payback. In that 1999 film, director Brian Hegeland takes a rather unsympathetic character, an underworld thug, armed robber, and cold-blooded murderer named Porter, and transforms him into the story’s victim who blazes a blood-soaked trail of revenge and ends up getting the girl, even if she is a high-priced hooker.

What was most surprising to me was that, at the end of the film, Porter was the same amoral thug he was in the beginning with no noticeable character change. And even though character change is pretty much de rigueur by Hollywood story standards, its absence does not appear to have affected audience reaction to what went on to become a fairly successful movie.

Much the same appears to be the case with The Lincoln Lawyer and Matthew McConaughey’s character, Los Angeles defense attorney Mickey Haller. Haller, to be fair, is a manipulative, unethical, bottom-feeding lawyer who lies to his clients, bribes pubic officials, and uses his membership in the legal profession to influence judges and get the system to work for his convenience.

His office is a black Lincoln town car driven by a former client, Earl (Laurence Mason) who is working off his debt, and his current clients include a biker accused of drug dealing and a hooker with a cocaine problem, all of whom play key roles in making this story work.

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