A FEW GOOD MEN

title: A FEW GOOD MEN

year: 1992

cast: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Pollock, Kevin Bacon

rating: ***1/2

The last good Rob Reiner film before he went North, never to return. Tom Cruise is both effective and annoying (one in the same with Tom) as a slacker military lawyer defending two Marines for the murder of a passive grunt in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which might be linked to the "God and Country" Lieutenant (played with over-amped gusto by Keifer Sutherland) or even the big bad wolf General: scene-stealer Jack Nicholson who, during his four scenes (especially one in which he belittles Cruise's partner-in-law Demi Moore) completely steals the show. Prepare to wince as Cruise sulks about living in his father's shadow; and sustain disbelief for a very implausible ending. But the direction flows and the cast, especially Kevin Pollack as Cruise's grounded sidekick/conscious, morphs the otherwise unbelievable (and often contrived) proceedings into a decent courtroom melodrama.