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Law Abiding Citizen poster

Law Abiding Citizen

year 2009decade 00sdirector F. Gary Graygenre Crimegenre Thrillergenre Drama

109 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Jamie Foxx Nick Rice
Gerard Butler Clyde Shelton
Colm Meaney Detective Dunnigan
Bruce McGill Jonas Cantrell
Leslie Bibb Sarah Lowell
Michael Irby Detective Garza
Gregory Itzin Warden Iger
Regina Hall Kelly Rice
Emerald-Angel Young Denise Rice
Christian Stolte Clarence Darby
Annie Corley Judge Laura Burch
Richard Portnow Bill Reynolds
Viola Davis Mayor April Henry
Josh Stewart Rupert Ames

Law Abiding Citizen | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Van Lathanhost Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:17Read transcript
  • Ebert gave the film three stars and liked it, writing that it is one of those movies you like more at the time than in retrospect, but that there is something to be said for a movie you like well enough at the time.
  • The hosts joke about whether the review was really written then or by a host a couple of days ago.
  • One speaker agrees with the in-the-moment point: after finishing the film he described the whole thing to Liz for 15 minutes; another review said you love it right away and then reconsider.
  • Watching with his wife and Ben, who had never seen it and liked it; his wife called it terrible until Leslie Bibb's car blew up and she got sucked in.

Picking Nits

Clyde opening the door without the peephole; criminals randomly targeting a secret CIA killer's family; Nick shaking Darby's hand on camera; no camera in Clyde's cell; Clyde not noticing the warehouse break-in; a DA and a cop handling bombs; the uninventive final briefcase bomb; beating Clyde back to his cell; a prisoner running an underground base

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:22Read transcript
  • Moved up from the picks: a master planner opens the door at night to strangers without looking through the peephole.
  • Two random criminals happened to attack the family of a secret CIA killer; a smarter version would make the crime itself revenge.
  • Nick shaking Darby's hand in front of reporters is the dumbest thing he does.
  • Nobody puts a camera in Clyde's isolation cell once things start exploding.
  • Clyde would have noticed the warehouse break-in, and a DA and a cop would not know how to handle bombs.
  • The final crime, a briefcase bomb under a table with no camera on it, is the least inventive; a purpose beyond carnage or a Bodyguard-style camera twist would have been better.
  • How Nick and the cops reach Clyde's cell before he does is unclear.
  • The biggest nit: a prisoner running a climate-controlled, wired underground base like Bruce Wayne makes no sense.
  • The blanket-over-pillow decoy is weak next to a favorite Eastwood prison-escape film with molded fake heads, which CR is said to love and which might be done on the show.

Casting What-Ifs

Butler and Foxx originally in each other's roles; Frank Darabont originally set to direct

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:13Read transcript
  • Casting what-ifs opens with 'we mentioned the Butler Fox thing'.
  • Foxx was first set to play Clyde and Butler the lawyer until Butler pushed to flip, as the hosts said earlier.
  • The hosts say Frank Darabont was supposed to direct and left over creative differences, joking he could not do another movie with tunnels to jail cells; they say he later sued AMC over The Walking Dead.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Butler's law training and firing as a trainee solicitor; the film's toll on Butler; filming in Philadelphia; the near-NC-17 cellmate killing; Nomos meaning law in Greek; Bruce McGill's two car-explosion deaths

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:30Read transcript
  • The hosts say Butler graduated from law school in Glasgow, was a trainee solicitor, got fired and became an actor.
  • The hosts report Butler's own account that the film messed with him, and he went away to hike and then to India; he is called one of the most interesting people and a wished-for podcast guest.
  • They filmed in Philadelphia; the hosts quote Butler that veteran crew were stunned by the cellmate killing and the ratings board said it would be rated NC 17, so it was cut down.
  • Nomos, Clyde's janitor identity, is said to mean law in Greek.
  • The hosts note Bruce McGill has two car-explosion deaths, the other in The Last Boy Scout; a website tracking actors' movie deaths is pitched.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

What if the whole school blew up at the recital?

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:47Read transcript
  • The one question: what if Nick realizes at the recital that it is about to blow up, and the whole school explodes as the ending?
  • The school exploding is judged too dark, since hundreds of kids would die, though the film did blow up a prison.
  • A note triggering a bomb is compared with Arlington Road, which is said to follow its premise all the way through.
  • Nick being strangled by his tie, with a flashback of Clyde rigging his ties, would have been appropriate.
  • Clyde could peek from behind the curtain or be the piano accompanist; the film should not have shown the flames around Clyde, leaving his escape open.
  • Nick has to die in the last scene, and one voice says they all agree.