Product Description

A documentary exploring the influence of the law and it s practitioners on American Culture while following six characters as they do whatever it takes to become lawyers themselves. The film features legal luminaries, politicians, well known comedians, celebrity lawyers and other notables including actor and comedian Eddie Griffin, OJ attorney Robert Shapiro, CNN s Nancy Grace, Court TV s Catherine Crier, Novelist Scott Turow, Legal commentator Alan Dershowitz, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Clinton Adviser Vernon Jordan, renowned trial lawyers, Joe Jamail, Mark Lanier, Jacoby & Meyers, Comedy Central s Michael Ian Black and ABC s John Stossel among others!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61855 in DVD
• Brand: INDICAN PICTURES
• Released on: 2008-04-08
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 92 minutes

Review
At once a damnation and a defense of lawyers, Eric Chaikin's film-fest favorite is a worthy successor to his Scrabble-fanatic doc Word Wars. Once more, with compassion and wit, he focuses on those for whom life is an endless pursuit of minutiae. He has a handful of law students commingling with TV talking heads (John Stossel, Nancy Grace), best sellers (Scott Turow), stand-ups and actors (Michael Ian Black, Eddie Griffin) and familiar faces (Alan Dershowitz, Robert Shapiro) to lay out a case for and against law school. It's fascinating and not a little heartbreaking, this portrayal of people, some who want to help, others who wouldn't mind just laying down a little hurt. --Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer

Review
Speaking of walking, Eric Chaikin s A Lawyer Walks Into A Bar... sounds like the start of a joke, but it s anything but. Of course, there s natural suspense to whether all six will pass the test or not and Chaikin intersperses the film with testimonials from such notable names as Alan Dershowitz, Vernon Jordan, Scott Turow and Nancy Grace. However, Chaikin brings the humanity out of this half dozen wannabe sharks and ultimately, they re the real stars of the film. --Premiere

Review
Pick of the Week! --Ebert & Roeper at the Movies

Customer Reviews

The image of laywers has always been terrible...
Or so says famous defense attorney Alan Dershowitz in this fascinating documentary.

America now has more than 800,000 lawyers. That's four times the numbers of lawyers in the WHOLE WORLD. And 130,000 more lawyers graduate each year from our law schools. That's just one of the facts in "A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar."

The only downside to this fun and fact-filled documentary is when it focuses on one of the annoyingly whiny "this-is-so-hard" law students who, after being involved in a very minor fender bender, calls her attorney FIRST and expresses her desire to initiate litigation for her "pain and suffering." When she appeared on screen, I wanted to *mute* the tv rather than listen to her self-serving diatribe and inane ramblings.

Fortunately, that was a small part of the overall picture.

The story is focused on law students in Los Angeles and makes the point that law school tuition runs $30,000 to $40,000 per year, leaving these students with few choices but to start making $75,000 a year right off the bat. Those with high ideals and hopes to make America a better place for the poor and needy, really don't have many options, because of the high debts and student loans.

My husband is a trial attorney and when I first met him (thanks to Match.com), I wasn't sure if I wanted to pursue a relationship with a trial attorney. Yeah, he was a better than the vinyl-siding salesman (whom I ditched during the first phone call), but a trial attorney? Yikes. But he made the point (as does Nancy Grace in this film) that when you're under attack in the courtroom, you need a smart-cookie attorney defending you and pleading your case and/or your cause.

It's a good film and it's kind to attorneys and yet, one of the best parts is the "bonus" feature that shows scum-sucking bottom dwellers chasing ambulances in hopes of making a few fast bucks. I recommend this documentary. Very interesting.

Neurotic law students take the bar...
This is a very funny documentary about 6 law students about to take the California bar (the hardest of the nation). The law students are a bit psychotic, rather neurotic, very nervous, and emotional verging on manic (ranging from assertiveness to doubt to failure). Being a law student about to take the bar, I am very glad I am not going to take the California bar!

The documentary also features comments from Nancy Grace, other famous lawyers and mentions some key cases and the big settlements that have been granted in the US (Coffee too hot?). I watched this documentary with my friends, all law students, and we laughed, a lot, but with a hint of panic in the laughter. Great documentary to watch, very entertaining. Even has some lawyer jokes.

The Special Features also include a piece on interesting cases.

Fascinating Look at the Gauntlet of Becoming a Lawyer
Beyond law school looms the challenge of passing the Bar exam. This is no small feat, especially in California, which boasts a low of about 39% pass rate, making it the toughest such exam among the 50 states. This documentary follows the stories of a half-dozen law school grads and wannabe's who face this final hurdle in transforming their J.D. into something that can pay the bills.

Prep courses, family stresses, sleepless nights, the pressure to perform, financial stress - add up to a cocktail of tension as thousands of law grads convene in a Civic Center for three days to pass the California bar. Who will make it and who will fail?

Added interest flows from cameos from prominent attorneys, including Scott Turow, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Shapiro, Mark Lanier, Victor Schwartz and Joe Jamail.

Whether you are an attorney or not (I am not), or just interested in the law and the roles that lawyers play in our society, this movie is well worth 90 minutes of your time for its high drama.