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The Rainmaker is yet another movie that I don't remember adding to my Netflix queue. I'm not sure how it made it there, but I always know that If I can't remember, then it must have been a recommendation. It stars Matt Damon, and I usually like his movies, so I gave it a go, despite the moment when I realized it was based on a Grisham book.

Damon plays Rudy, a young lawyer fresh out of school, who has nowhere to live. His belongings are all packed on top of his car, and he goes straight to work for the first person who will hire him, which ends up being a creepy, questionable man named Bruiser, played by Mickey Rourke. One of Bruiser's colorful employees is Deck (Danny DeVito), who shows Rudy the ropes of finding cases to represent: they go to hospitals, find vulnerable injured people, and get them to sign a contract. Rudy is unsure of what he has signed up for, but stays with the firm while he studies for the bar exam. He meets his first couple of clients and befriends them, and settles in in a guest house behind one older woman's home.

While under pressure from Bruiser to take advantage of more people at the hospital, he decides to study in its cafeteria, and meets Kelly (Claire Danes), who is a victim of spousal abuse. Rudy instantly wants to look after her, which will most certainly get him into trouble. But with a boss who is being investigated, a coworker who practices law without having passed the bar exam, and a medical case that is way over his head, what's a little more trouble? The medical case is of a family who have been denied insurance coverage for a dying young man, and the court scene is a familiar feeling - the little guy vs. the big guys, or Rudy vs. the slick corporate lawyer played by Jon Voight.

While some of these plots feel familiar, as Grisham plots are sometimes prone to be, there's something about the talent in this film that sends it beyond the level of the plot. Besides the actors I've named, there are several others who seem too qualified to be in this kind of movie, and as a result, the movie is elevated. I kept wondering at it, trying to figure out why this one felt more classy and seemed to have more depth, despite its overly hopeful ending. And then the credits rolled, and the screen read, "Directed by Francis Ford Coppola". Oh. Well, that would explain it. I think the combination of Damon and Coppola, along with all of the other actors involved, really made this movie more that it might have been in other people's hands.

The more I watch Damon, the more I realize that he really is one of the best of our time. While I think it might be best for the Bourne genre to come to an end, I do have to admit that he was great even in an action genre role. I even like his sense of humor in all of the spots he has done with Jimmy Kimmel (thanks to Nobody for the most recent video tip, of Kimmel's employee battling Jason Bourne). Overall, it just seems like he's a cool guy with a lot of talent.