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First reported by The Boston Globe in 2014 (two years before the film would ever be released), lead star Daniel Craig would abruptly step away from director Courtney Hunt’s second film, The Whole Truth, just days before shooting. Luckily, the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker found reprieve in actor Keanu Reeves, who took on the role only three months later. We still don’t know why Craig dropped out in 2024, and that will be a mystery until the end of time. What we do know, however, is that even with A-list star Keanu Reeves headlining, both critics and audiences found this courtroom drama guilty of being a terrible movie. We can certainly appeal that verdict here.
The folks over at Roger Ebert called Hunt’s second film “sterile and flat.” Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times said that The Whole Truth was a “claustrophobic courtroom procedural”. Finally, a film critic at Variety (a motion picture coverage magazine) by the name of Peter Debruge said that there was “little to no room for subplots or other enriching details.” While Ebert’s team seemingly didn’t make it past the first act (as mysterious and scandalous story elements do build up quite quickly that contradict this statement), an argument can easily be made for the two viewpoints that The New York Times and Variety bring to the table regarding this movie.
The Whole Truth Puts the Focus on the Courtroom
The Whole Truth
Release Date March 25, 2016
Director Courtney Hunt
Runtime 93 minutes
In their defense, this movie does tumble a bit when trying to set a goal of mischievously playing with viewer expectations. As Catsoulis says, the courtroom does feel like a small space, but that’s because of the growing number of tension-filled relationships. As Debruge points out, the main mystery behind who killed Boone Lassiter leaves no room for anything else, but it eventually encompasses all characters (including the defense attorney played by Keanu Reeves). Outside the trial’s emotional beats, The Whole Truth is admittedly subtle in building its world. Character arcs are signified by cuts to nature or pieces of architecture slowly moving into place as if to symbolize that the stakes have just been raised.
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While there are traumatic flashbacks that carve out the relationship between Loretta, Boone, and Mike (mother, father, and son), they almost play out in the blink of an eye. Mike Lassiter (played by The Night Agent’s Gabriel Basso), who is suspected of murdering his father, doesn’t actually talk until the end of the second act. His quietness keeps the audience tuned into the moment in which he does. On top of that, Renée Zellweger pulls off a performance that only a few seem to understand. Loretta is suddenly thrust into a very disturbing situation (she is the first one to walk into the bedroom with her son over the dead body of her abusive husband) but her otherwise calm demeanor is something a little too eerie for those who have an investigative eye.
This Defense Attorney Holds a Secret in The Whole Truth
Then there’s Boone, played by Jim Belushi. Unlike his more comedic roles, The Whole Truth sees the famous actor take on the part of an awful, intimidating husband who uses his money to hide terrifying secrets. In those moments when he was alive, Boone was not a man who could be brushed off or discarded. Even though this flashback is shown at the end of the film, the patriarch of the Lassiter family surmised the movie’s shocking twist and implied he would make the culprit suffer in ways unimaginable.
That particular scene will stay with you well past The Whole Truth’s end credits. Since Boone is currently dead, and we only witness this evil character from the past tense, it turns him into a ghoulish entity and almost thrusts this movie into another genre entirely. It’s already a thriller, and if there were a couple more scenes with Boone being a terror, The Whole Truth would have become a psychological horror as well.
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We can’t forget about Keanu Reeves himself — the replacement for Daniel Craig. Maybe playing the man with whom Loretta was having an affair was too much for Craig? Probably not, but that is the twist, ladies and gentlemen. The defense attorney is Loretta’s out in more ways than one. As mentioned, this slow-burning movie is also subtle and tight (with its use of show and tell) for a reason.
Hunt never wants you to suspect anything, and by breaking it down to an intimate cast in a small space, you never know who the villain is until after the verdict is given. The Whole Truth dizzies you around corrupt city officials, next-door lover boys, and mile-high stewardesses but then sets you straight only for a moment until a final climactic punch takes you off your feet. Forget about the critics with this one and just enjoy the ride. The Whole Truth is available to stream for free on Prime Video Freevee.
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