The good is the acting of Kinnear, who is truly the modern equivalent to Jimmy Stewart — an everyman, far much more so than Tom Hanks has ever been. Kinnear can do drama like Hanks never can. Graham is also very good, and the fact that she does not reconcile with Kearns after his victory is one of the lone bright spots in the screenplay, based on truth or not.
But, so much of the second half of the film is wasted on moments that have been slapped together from so many other us vs. them films that only the winsomeness of Graham and the likability of Kinnear prevent narcolepsy. The principled stand that Kearns makes is an engine for the film, but little else. Mitch Pileggi (of X-Files fame) is good as a scumbag Ford bigwig, and there is potential in familial scenes between Kearns and his six kids (both older and younger sets, as the film takes place over more than a decade), but it is never exploited. Too much time, instead, is wasted on Bob’s failures with his friend Gil, and a lawyer, Greg Lawson, played by Alan Alda, who cares not for justice, just money.
One good aspect of the film is that it opens with Kearns dazed and confused, a couple of years after his being screwed by Ford, only to make that opening worthless, with a flashback to how he got there, and then, an hour in, we catch up, and proceed chronologically. This does not work because it is a fence-sitting position. Since events before and after proceed linearly, why do we start off with the hiccup? And then, we see the scene play out a second time.
The screenplay should have either played the film from beginning to end, or played around with time and perception inside the character’s mind, especially since he did spend time in a loony bin, and after being released from it, according to the film, was never quite the same. Kinnear displays this subtle change in character wonderfully, and may get an Oscar nod for it — a perfect example of how one can see great aspects in a mediocre work of art.
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