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The Rainmaker
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    90
    Though he's adapting the same story Grisham always tells, that of an ethical, talented and inexperienced attorney taking on and outwitting powerful and corrupt legal opponents, Coppola has infused The Rainmaker with enough humor, character, honest emotion and storytelling style to make it one of the year's most entertaining movies.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Elvis Mitchell
    90
    Drawing a parade of colorful performances from a constantly surprising cast, the curiously titled ''John Grisham's 'The Rainmaker' '' is Mr. Coppola's best and sharpest film in years.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    90
    As carefully constructed, handsomely crafted and flavorsomely acted as a top-of-the-line production from Hollywood's classical studio era, Francis Ford Coppola's screen version of John Grisham's The Rainmaker would seem to represent just about all a filmmaker could do with the best-selling author's patented dramatic formulas without subverting them altogether.
  4. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    90
    The film delivers old-fashioned star turns and glittering cameos (Jon Voight and Mickey Rourke are especially good, but Danny DeVito, Mary Kay Place, Danny Glover, Virginia Madsen, Roy Scheider, and Dean Stockwell--not to mention old-Hollywood icon Teresa Wright--also provide considerable pleasure).
  5. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    80
    A wonderfully quirky cast under Francis Ford Coppola's direction makes this one of the more enjoyable John Grisham movies.
  6. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    80
    Coppola, who both wrote and directed this entertaining adaptation, follows the well-thumbed scenario, but with the help of his winning cast he disguises the absence of invention.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    The Rainmaker, unlike most Grisham films, doesn't have to drag a high-paid superstar around and give him all the best lines. DeVito's role is in the fading tradition of the star character actor.
  8. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Francis Ford Coppola has directed the legal drama with his usual keen attention to atmosphere and texture, although his adaptation of John Grisham's bestselling novel leaves out connective material that would have made the tale smoother and savvier.
  9. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    75
    The Rainmaker has a mostly plausible story, an engaging young courtroom hero (Matt Damon, Hollywood's new cover boy), a giant insurance company as the perfect adversary and the best supporting cast of any movie this year.
  10. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Barbara Shulgasser
    75
    Coppola again shines his intelligence on this bestseller material, rather than just shoving it through the Hollywood mill unsifted.
  11. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    The intelligence and subtlety of The Rainmaker took me by surprise. I don't know if this is because the novel is better than any of the prolific lawyer-turned-author's previous efforts, or if Francis Ford Coppola has performed a near-miracle in transforming the written pages into a screenplay.
  12. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Anthony Miele
    70
    Overall, not a great film, but definitely worth a viewing, especially to those who have seen any other Coppola film released this decade.
  13. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Laura Miller
    70
    What filmgoers get is a satisfactory mainstream entertainment, with a handful of major actors in juicy minor roles tossed in for good measure.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Russell Smith
    67
    Director Francis Ford Coppola, who established his towering reputation with an adaptation of another pulpy pop novel, hasn't exactly uncorked another The Godfather here.
  15. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    Francis Ford Coppola has turned John Grisham's pulpy bestseller into surprisingly creditable -- if morally muddled -- movie.
  16. Empire
    Reviewed by: Ian Nathan
    60
    It's just so unremarkable. Which, considering its director's monumental output (both good and bad) is, frankly, a bit depressing.
  17. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    60
    This movie has all the same elements as other Grisham fare: raw young lawyer trying to make it in the South; helpless client treated badly; sleazy, star-chamber villains. Wake me up when the last-minute surprise witness comes out of her hidey hole to turn the case around.
  18. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    50
    Any random episode of Law & Order would be more sophisticated than this heavy-handed, moralistic Southern-lawyer corn pone, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
  19. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    40
    John Grisham's The Rainmaker lulls you into the mindset you get while reading a bestseller at the beach. What a sad thing to say about a Francis Ford Coppola movie!
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