The story of a lawyer who is murdered in his bedroom. Like most murder victims in mysteries, he was not a nice guy and the list of suspects includes everyone who ever met him. The redneck Louisiana lawyer is played by Jim Belushi, a face I haven’t seen in awhile. He’s older and fatter, but looks much as he always has. His wife is played by a virtually unrecognizable Renée Zellweger. I didn’t know it was her until I looked at the movie’s IMDB page.
The big name star is Keanu Reeves. In fact, the biggest mystery for me was:Why is Keanu Reeves in this movie? Well, seems he was called in to replace Daniel Craig, who decided he had better things to do. It’s a bit baffling that either of these actors were drawn to this project.
Keanu is the main character and he spends a lot of time narrating the story. He talks about The Law. He talks about his client. He talks about the victim and the victim’s wife. And sometimes he just talks.
The story unfolds as the victim’s son is arrested for the crime. Did he do it? Did the wife do it? Did someone else do it? As we watch the trial and listen to testimony, we are shown little snippets of what actually happened. As witnesses lie on the stand, we see, for a few seconds, the truth. All is not as it appears. Well, duh, it is a mystery.
There are a number of twists in the story. Hints dropped in the flashbacks. Shocking reveals. Aha! moments.
I have to admit they tricked me. That hasn’t happened in a while.
At the same time, it was hardly nail biting suspense. The bulk of the movie was talking heads. This film is in no form or fashion a thriller.
The Whole Truth didn’t look very good. Standard low budget location shots and mostly no name actors and very movie-of-the-week camera work. Like Kristen Stewart, Keanu Reeves is not known for his great emotional range. Even so, he puts in an amazingly wooden performance here.
