Lawyer in a Lincoln takes plenty of hairpin turns

Mick's a streetwise operator who knows how to make money off the front end and back end of every deal. He knows how to work the system without gaming it and how to make a bribe look like a legitimate Christmas gift. For him, the end product of the justice system is not a fair verdict, but getting a judgment and pocketing the payment for services.

He strikes gold when his chum the bail bondsman (John Leguizamo) hooks him up with a franchise client, Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), a Beverly Hills real estate prince and playboy charged with assault and battery of a female escort. Almost unprecedented in Mickey's experience, Roulet (rhymes with roué) may even be innocent.

The part of the smoothy at the pickup game suits McConaughey down to the ground. Typically, Mickey is several steps ahead of the D.A. In defending Roulet, though, what initially looks to be a slam-dunk is a desperation heave.

In this nicely cast film featuring Bryan Cranston as a comically exasperated police detective, William H. Macy is a standout as a private investigator, a shaggy motormouth with access to all sorts of privileged information.

Furman's movie has the throwback vibe of Paul Newman crime procedurals like The Drowning Pool and the swagger of the first installment in a continuing movie or television franchise. I, for one, look forward to the next chapter in the misadventures of Mickey.

Contact film critic Carrie Rickey at crickey@phillynews.com or 215-854-5402. Read her blog, "Flickgrrl," at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/flickgrrl/.