Today’s quick review: Reasonable Doubt. Mitch Brockden (Dominic Cooper), a successful prosecutor, makes the mistake of his life when he strikes and kills a pedestrian while driving drunk. To make matters worse, Clinton Davis (Samuel L. Jackson), a passing motorist, is set up to take the fall. But as Mitch wrestles with his conscience and looks for a way to sabotage the case against Clinton, he learns Clinton may not be as innocent as he seems.
Reasonable Doubt is a crime thriller about a lawyer caught between an admission that could ruin his career and allowing an innocent man to go to prison in his stead. The movie explores both the moral dimension of Mitch’s case as well as the practical one when the investigation turns up skeletons in Clinton’s closet. In spite of a promising premise, Reasonable Doubt fails to capitalize on its strengths.
Unfortunately, Reasonable Doubt does not have enough meat on its bones. The moral dilemma that drives the early portion of the movie quickly falls by the wayside, and the investigation that replaces it is not nearly as compelling. The movie does have a knack for placing Mitch in tough situations, and he never keeps an advantage for long, but none of the later challenges he faces are enough to carry the movie.
The result is a thriller with some interesting scenarios but not a lot to go on overall. Reasonable Doubt succeeds in backing its protagonist into a corner, but it has a hard time figuring out what to do next. Reasonable Doubt is an adequate pick for those interested in its premise and in the crime thriller genre in general, but it finds itself outclassed by movies that can string out their ideas with more skill.
For a much more elaborate legal drama that involves difficult questions of guilt and innocence, check out Primal Fear. For a more horrific movie about some of the same themes, try The Machinist. For another brush with a potential killer, try The Little Things.
[5.7 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2304953/). I give it a 6.0 for a decent plot that does not hit as hard as it could have.