The Trials of Cate McCall Poster

The Trials of Cate McCall (2013)

Crime  
Rayting:   6.3/10 5.5K votes
Country: USA
Language: English
Release date: 28 November 2013

In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.

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moeursalen 5 April 2014

Most things that occur in life have happened before so you could say that anything depicted in film is a cliché. Love, murder, war, courtroom drama. . . What scenes, played out on the screen, haven't you been exposed to before?

The interesting thing about legal dramas are the characters involved--who they are, what they think, and of course, what they do. And then there is always the question of justice itself. Was justice actually done? Usually the answer is "no," and it is especially "no" here, just like it too often is "no" in real life.

One of the basic themes in this one is that the guilty are found innocent and the innocent are found guilty. The gullible participants are manipulated into mistaken conclusions, much as we are in real life. Of course, RL is a bit more shady than the simplifications required by the medium of film. It doesn't matter much though, because Kate Beckingsale would be interesting even if she were reading the dictionary.

I admit to being a longtime Kate Beckingsale fanboy but there's no point in offering any resistance to her charms considering she's also a terrific actor and carries the lead role admirably. I don't know the judge's real name but he's perfect too and has played that authoritarian part in many films/TV shows requiring the wise old and lecherous legal beagle.

Nick Nolte gets to play a good guy, something of a mentor to former alcoholic Cate. You've heard that one before but there are some really funny exchanges between them, particularly the one where she jokes she'll let Nolte "do" her if helps with the legal case. I'd be glad to help, too. Unfortunately, she's joking.

Whomever conceived this film did the right thing in showcasing Beckinsale. Her character is mercurial and she alternates among a series of different poses. There's the svelte, buttoned up lawyer, the disintegrating recovering alcoholic, a Pollyanna, and prosecutor, the tough broad, and the weepy mom end of a failed marriage.

For all of that, the plot twists and back stories are rather too plentiful. That seems to be a tendency in films today. Nonetheless, I 'd watch the film again, and I think I will.

kosmasp 15 October 2014

Fmovies: Kate is playing her character really great. And even Nick Nolte has more than one moment to shine (you feel the gravitas he's bringing to the movie). Other than that, the movie/plot may be predictable for some (maybe many), but it's the way it's played out that really works. Be it the characters with all their flaws and the story with its turns every now and again.

Being a lawyer can be pretending, it's also about winning, no matter what. If you backtrack on that, what would that mean. The justice system is not perfect and everything else might not matter anymore. Like personal life. The drama outside the courtroom is as suspenseful as the one unfolding inside of it.

bkoganbing 10 June 2014

This film had some potential, but a lack of decent characters other than our heroine hampers its dramatic development.

Kate Beckinsale plays the title role in The Trials Of Cate McCall and she's an alcoholic lawyer whose main confidante is her AA sponsor Nick Nolte who looks like a hippie refugee from the Sixties. She's on a kind of probation from the bar association and gets assigned a real dog of a case from Anna Annissimova who's in jail for a brutal murder with lesbian overtones.

Wouldn't you know it Beckinsale becomes a true believer and uncovers enough procedural errors in front of Judge James Cromwell an old law professor of her's to get the verdict set aside. The cops don't take it well and she's put through quite a ringer. Beckinsale is also having custodial issues with her ex-husband.

Beckinsale's comeback is assured, but the film is far from over.

I think with a bit better writing this could have been a major triumph. Beckinsale's character was too self indulgent and inclined to spend a lot of time on the pity pot. Nolte was interesting however, his character obviously based on William Kunstler.

Passable drama, but nothing more.

tecnogaming 11 June 2014

The Trials of Cate McCall fmovies. Cate is an incredible fine lawyer with some serious problems with alcohol that is searching a way to recover the right to see her daughter. Since she was a fine lawyer before being alcoholic she accept a new case to defend an innocent girl that was wrongfully accused and in the process prove that she is fit to be a mother.

That's about the whole idea of the movie, but behind the seemingly obvious drama and court case movie there is a deep web of lies hence the title the movie gets in other countries.

For the most part, the movie plays Kate as Cate struggling to understand the rules of the system and her life and the movie plays for the majority of the time as a drama, but, there are some parts that plays with suspense and some later turnarounds.

The movie is not brilliant in the script department, you can actually guess the outcome of all, but being honest, it doesn't pretend to play as a suspense movie either.

All the court case parts, the innocent girl, the threats and the lies are just secondary plot ideas to picture what is really important here and that's the life of Cate.

This is a very fine movie in the drama department and one you should seriously consider if you're into this genre. The acting of Miss Kate Beckinsale and Nick Nolte are one of the best moments through the movie and proves that Kate is a very good actress.

I love court case movies and this one didn't disappoint and a movie about a flawed main protagonist path to redemption is always a topic i'm fond of.

An easy 6 out of 10

NateWatchesCoolMovies 24 March 2016

Once again Kate Beckinsale plays a solid, fully realized protagonist in yet another uneven but intriguing film. The Trials Of Cate McCall is an episodic courtroom drama in where the cases which defence attorney Beckinsale works kind of take a backseat to, and even reflect the issues she faces in her personal life. She's been disbarred from practising law some time ago, also losing the custody of her daughter. With the help of her ex lawyer father (a crusty, scene stealing Nick Nolte), she begins the long road to personal and professional redemption, starting with a tricky case involving the alleged violent sexual assault of a wayward girl (a deft, unsettling Ana Schafer). Sounds great, right? Unfortunately not. It's certainly interesting, but it squander valuable time on scenes which should be brisk and tightly wound, providing bloated segments where there could be high drama. When it's solid it's solid though, especially with Beckinsale's work. Supporting turns include James Cromwell as a not so honest judge, Clancy Brown as a stern D.A., Mark Pellegrino as a crass detective implicated in the heinous crime, and other work from Dale Dickey, Isiah Washington and Kathy Baker. Despite its inconsistencies, it manages to hold interest through selected performances that are marvellous, and some perfectly timed third act plot turns that sheds new light on everything that came before it. As far as courtroom flicks go, you can do both a lot better and a lot worse in checking this one out.

AJSteele 14 June 2014

Your getting lucky when you select a film like "The Trials Of Cate McCain" even considering that it is such a mundane sounding title. Kate Beckensale as an attorney battling alcoholism is thoroughly absorbing as the splinters of life consume her. The film contains a wide array of excellent actors that most of us haven't seen in awhile and their portrayals are definitely worth multiple viewings. Nick Nolte especially, who's name I thought may have been stamped on the movie just to give it gravitas, is certainly compelling as he seemingly brings his life experience to the script and sells it 100%. A simple but subtly powerful performance as Beckensale's mentor.

A little history about this movie- It was released theatrically in Hungary and reportedly had a bad box office return. It was decided that a U.S. and UK release would be skipped. The film was bought by the Lifetime network and some watched it there giving it bad on line reviews, possibly because of its connection to a supposed low quality network and whatever else. Thankfully the theatrical version was cold pressed to DVD which saved it from bogus network editing. I also read that actor Taye Diggs was in the film but his scenes were removed. I find that odd but never the less he is listed as an actor in the film. My personal feelings are that marketing mistakes and knee jerk decisions caused this very good film to die an untimely movie theatre death.

Anyone that is either in recovery or recovered from substance abuse should seriously identify with many scenarios in the film but there are enough accurate emotional stirrings for the average movie goer to ponder as well. Ms.Beckensale is Oscar worthy as she navigates through the dilemmas of her fractured life. It's good to see the philosophy of the 12 steps incorporated into a movie in a realistic way. The believability factor is exceptionally high on all fronts. I intend to purchase this film and I obviously highly recommend it.

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