Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The words of this review title happened to be written in pen on the videotape box of this movie that I checked out of the library. Whoever wrote them told no lie.The movie is based on Alan Dershowtiz's book of the same title, where he takes on the appeal of the attempted murder conviction of socialite Klaus von Bulow, who allegedly tried to murder his wife Sunny through an injection of insulin. Dershowitz tells this to his group of college-age legal helpers, one of whom tries to drop out in disgust, but Dershowitz changes her mind by telling her that the idea is to get the money to continue their pro bono legal quest to help two young black ghetto kids who are also facing criminal charges. Dershowitz also mentions that the state of Rhode Island's judiciary has a corrupt legal system. Also, when they do a test of how liquid coats straws, it suggests that the evidence that von Bulow might have injected Sunny with insulin might not be so real after all.Jeremy Irons gives a good performance as an icy, haughty aristocrat, both in his scenes with Dershowitz and his legal team and with the flashback scenes with him and Sunny. Also, Dershowitz is shown as haughty and pompous in his own right, even if his heart is supposedly in the right place. And the movie does not make any conclusions as to whether von Bulow was guilty or not; no surprise when Dershowitz's tactic was to cast doubt on the evidence that his client actually made any attempt to kill his wife, even if he had a motive to do so. Indeed, the movie implies that Sunny had mental problems and was probably suicidal.Dershowitz might have wanted to come across as a hero doing his job. The latter is certainly true, but he has proved no more heroic than any other defense lawyer.

Reversal of Fortune is a dramatization of a real-life attempted murder case, as documented in the book by the same title which was written by Alan M. Dershowitz, defense attorney to the main suspect, Claus von Bülow. The film works as a solid little courtroom drama with an intriguing story, a clever script and an impressive cast; but it doesn't go the extra mile into something more than a daytime TV movie. It tries hard to break the mold - most notably, by having much of the film narrated by the victim - but at heart, it remains a very plain legal drama; and emotionally, it maintains a dry, distant coldness that doesn't allow the viewer to care about anything that's going on. That feeling of emotional disconnection leads to a film with a steady pace, with no highs and lows, and with no real climaxes or tension. In other words - rather dull, and unless you really pay attention to the details of the case, there's nothing much to grab onto.It's also worth mentioning that the film's poster, as well as Jeremy Irons's Oscar win, is more than a bit misleading, because Irons and Glenn Close aren't really the main characters, though the story revolves around them; and in fact Irons's performance is completely over-the-top and certainly not up to the standards he set two years earlier with his masterful work on Dead Ringers. The majority of the film revolves around Ron Silver, who plays Dershowitz himself; and while Silver's performance is understated and quiet, it's also the strongest one in the film. But it's just not enough to give it any emotional or moral weight and to keep the whole thing together, because the viewer doesn't care about Dershowitz winning or losing the trial any more then they do about Von Bülow being found guilty or not.

Martha Sharp Crawford von Bülow--known within her circle as "Sunny"--a rich American socialite unhappily married to an unemployed, womanizing lout, slips into an irreversible coma and all fingers point to cucumber-cool husband Claus, who hires a Harvard-based legal team to win his appeal after he is found guilty of attempted murder. Real-life case isn't a baffler, and the staging by director Barbet Schroeder sometimes resembles a waxworks museum, yet Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons (sounding a bit like Boris Karloff) and Glenn Close are well-cast in the leads. Portraying this hapless gruesome-twosome, the stars don't exactly convince us they're the von Bülows (the films teeters between handsome reenactment and caricature--with the comatose victim as pithy narrator); however, the film is marginally engaging as a well-heeled exaggeration of events, with Ron Silver bringing his usual focus and conviction as legal-eagle Alan Dershowitz. ** from ****

I had mainly heard of this film because of the leading actor winning an Oscar, and based on a true story it sounded interesting and certainly worth a try. Basically Claus Von Bülow (Oscar and Golden Globe winning Jeremy Irons) is accused of attempting to murder his wife Martha 'Sunny' (Glenn Close), who has gone into a deep coma. Claus has hired brilliant Professor of law, Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver), to try and get him acquitted after being found guilty on two convictions. Through a series of flashbacks you find out how Claus and Sunny met each other, how their marriage was slowly breaking down, and a few flashes of how the accused incident could have gone. The only problem with Claus hiring Dershowitz is that he and his are students are confident that he is guilty, and they are actually trying to prove his innocence, and unbelievably, they succeeded! The end text says that Claus lived a reasonably normal life after he got off, and Sunny never woke from her coma. Also starring The Hand That Rocks the Cradle's Annabella Sciorra as Sarah, Uta Hagen as Maria - Sunny's Personal Maid, Fisher Stevens as David Marriott, Jack Gilpin as Peter MacIntosh - Dershowitz's Student Staff, Christine Baranski as Andrea Reynolds - Claus' Girlfriend, Stephen Mailer as Elon Dershowitz, Christine Dunford as Ellen and Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman as Minnie - Dershowitz's Student Staff. Irons makes an interesting performance with a slight German twang in his accent, Close (also narrating) does well in her flashback sequences, and Silver is pretty good, it is an interesting story worth watching. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Director for Barbet Schroeder and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Very good!