The Firm

Name: The Firm
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: June 30, 1993
Duration: 154 min
Rating: 58
Cast: Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tom Cruise

1993

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 157 Ratings

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8.7

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8.7	User Score Universal acclaim based on 157 Ratings

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The Firm

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Movie Details & Credits

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: June 30, 1993 | R

Starring: Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tom Cruise

Summary: John Grisham’s best selling novel comes to the big screen.

Director: Sydney Pollack

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 154 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Kenneth Turan

The result is a top-drawer melodrama, a polished example of commercial movie-making that manages to improve on the original while retaining its best-selling spirit. [30 Jun 1993 Pg. F1]

Joe Brown

Cruise was born to play company man, and the role is an opportunity to sum up his old roles and transcend them with his most potently emotional work. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

No one is going to confuse The Firm with art, but its high- cholesterol virtues-a story that keeps you guessing, a dozen meaty character turns-are enough to send you home sated. Read full review

Matt Mueller

An average movie improved by Cruise's star appeal and accomplished supporting cast. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

By the film's climax, following the plot movements has become merely complex rather than suspenseful. Read full review

Richard Corliss

Tom Cruise heads a tony cast in a best-seller movie that is firm at the start and infirm by the end. Read full review

Rick Groen

By then, the lofty ambitions can't disguise the sad reality - it's long, it's cluttered, and it's trite. Read full review

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User Reviews

TylerDurden900

Jul 19, 2014

The Firm is an intense thriller with top notch acting and an intriguing plot. Tom Cruise gives a classic role
along with a talented supporting cast in this movie based on a John Grisham novel.

19 of 21 users found this helpful192

MovieGuys

Sep 29, 2013

A melodrama worth watching, The Firm is a very ironically correct title, as this movie is very sturdy and "firm", and it knows where it's going. It has a good foundation, benefitting from the great performances and intriguing story, and it's a very intelligent thriller that won't beA melodrama worth watching, The Firm is a very ironically correct title, as this movie is very sturdy and "firm", and it knows where it's going. It has a good foundation, benefitting from the great performances and intriguing story, and it's a very intelligent thriller that won't be forgotten anytime soon.… Expand

16 of 18 users found this helpful162

smurose

Jul 27, 2020

Tom Cruise had a great performance in this movie. The plot was decent too. The music was a bit mismatched at times, too cheery or matter-of-fact for the situation. Overall, riveting and you can feel the despair of Tom Cruise's character.

0 of 5 users found this helpful05

geewah

Jan 15, 2021

Big budget thriller that falls flat for so many reasons with main being is muddling, middle of the road story.

0 of 5 users found this helpful05

Steven1981

Mar 19, 2020

Tom Cruise is a very good actor and I like many of his films including "A Few Good Men, Rain Man, Interview with the Vampire, The Color of Money, Days of Thunder" and many others...... I've seen The Firm on a few occasions and it's very well made and Tom Cruise no doubt gives a goodTom Cruise is a very good actor and I like many of his films including "A Few Good Men, Rain Man, Interview with the Vampire, The Color of Money, Days of Thunder" and many others...... I've seen The Firm on a few occasions and it's very well made and Tom Cruise no doubt gives a good performance. I don't think Gene Hackman really contributed much to the movie and what he did contribute was pointless. Jeanne Tripplehorn (Basic Instinct) was lovely to see in the film and her presence always cheers me up in a movie because she's a goddess! Tom Cruise gives a good acting account in The Firm however seeing Tobin Bell in The Firm was annoying and he looked out of place. The best part for me in The Firm is when Tom Cruise is chased and hides then gets the badguys and runs off. The rest of it is pretty dull and mainly what we are left with is a long, dull mess with the film not really going anywhere fast. The directing is beautiful but not much happening and I don't even understand fully what the storyline is if there was one at all. A very dragged out movie with little significance or little to really care about. It's not overly entertaining but some parts are but it could of been better by miles. To me the only decent performances in the movie come from Tom Cruise and Jeanne Tripplehorn and the rest is doggy litter. It's a watchable film but barely and that's all I have to say about The Firm. Could of been miles better.… Expand

0 of 7 users found this helpful07

amheretojudge

Sep 17, 2018

a misconceived amalgamation of the so called thrills..

The Firm The Firm is a character driven thriller drama depicting the inner politics that rots out the firm from the inside. Ticking for more than 150 minutes, the overkill sets in early and the primary reason to that is the overa misconceived amalgamation of the so called thrills..

The Firm

The Firm is a character driven thriller drama depicting the inner politics that rots out the firm from the inside. Ticking for more than 150 minutes, the overkill sets in early and the primary reason to that is the over chewing of its character's perspective that may offer a more personal experience and helps connect instantly, but it also grows wafer thin as the character doesn't have the anticipated wide range. The scrutiny doesn't hit up till the first hour is clocked, the first act is spent upon setting up the plots and characters that may be appreciative but not at this length, not at this price. The sound effects are sharp, the background score is mysterious, the cinematography isn't that impressive and neither is camera work along with editing. The pragmatic conversations, well spread out webs of lies and deceptions that are constructed and barred under law and the three dimensional characters that may not be intriguing but it surely is plausible for the effort invested. Cruise is complex and yet easy to read due to its performance with a support from mysterious Hackman and honest as Hunter has ever been delivering some of her best work. Pollock's execution might be bang on his bucks, but overcooking the wafer thin script where the heat from the soul is extracted brutally and to encounter it on screen is just painful. Addition to that, the adaptation too isn't that smart as the writers think, it may be adaptive and smarter, but it sure ain't gripping. The inner politics that is brewed with keen sense of awareness of the financial laws, the stakes that can easily be grasped and Cruise's heartbreaking performance are the high points of the feature. The Firm is a misconceived amalgamation of the so called thrills and ipso facto even its chase is shallow and benign.… Expand

0 of 8 users found this helpful08

Xianyu

Jul 22, 2020

Never before have I lost interest in a movie due to music choice alone. I usually don't notice music in movies. I can appreciate it when it's insanely well-done (Such as John Wick, etc) but otherwise, music is a background element I pay no attention to. The amount of this movie that INever before have I lost interest in a movie due to music choice alone. I usually don't notice music in movies. I can appreciate it when it's insanely well-done (Such as John Wick, etc) but otherwise, music is a background element I pay no attention to. The amount of this movie that I watched, that I could actually stomach, had the single most awfully-chosen soundtrack I have ever heard. Even tense moments were completely undermined by this awful chirpy 'everything is okay and happy' piano chord music that was so distractingly out of place, and was so discordant with the actual happenings on screen that it was like watching the movie on an ipad in a piano bar almost far enough to dodge the ambient piano but not quite.

Needless to say it took me right out the movie when I was watching Tom Cruise sneakily searching through a medicine cabinet or whatever, suspecting that his partner is an ACTUAL MURDERER and the tense scene of him trying to conduct the search without being noticed is underscored by AWFUL CHIRPY PIANO MUSIC.

As I said, I rarely care about music. So for it to completely ruin a movie, it has to be absolutely abhorrent. And it is. It is godawful.… Expand

0 of 6 users found this helpful06

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