any screen adaptation of a john grisham story deserve a mainstream hollywood approach and and robert altman be about the last director i would go to for a mainstream take on anything . but this southern fry pot boiler be pretty good . while it not among altman best and it certainly isn not among the film he make that leave you scratch your head and wonder what he be think . altman have tip his hat to the mystery thriller with noir overtone before and in his 1973 film the long goodbye . the gingerbread man be nowhere near as good a that film and but it hold up fairly well on it own . kenneth branagh be a cocky attorney who find himself frame for murder after he get involve with a client ( embeth davidtz ) who have enlist his help in protect her from her cuckoo father ( robert duvall ) . the film be set in savannah and georgia during the approach of a tropical storm and which lend the film an oppressive atmosphere that i very much like . the twist and turn toward the film end become clunkier and clunkier and and altman prove himself to be not all that adept at stag shootout and but overall the film be not a bad addition to altman canon . also star robert downey and jr. and daryl hannah and tom berenger and famke janssen . grade represent b .