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Don't listen to the negative reviews

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Checked out and watched the legal drama "Reversal of Fortune" which is based on the real life attempted murder case and overturned conviction case of rich and well known European aristocrat Claus Von Bulow(in an Oscar winner role for Jeremy Irons who's sly and cunning in his acting). And this is a legal picture that's a little different from others it stays away from the courtroom drama scenes and most focuses on the behind the scenes legal theory and work by Claus's defense team which was headed by famed defense lawyer Alan Dershowitz(Ron Silver)and a group of his former students that he taught at college. The story is compelling and interesting as this happened not once but twice as Claus was convicted of twice trying to kill his elegant socialite wife Sunny(Glenn Close)and Claus is a spoiled playboy a guy who has a mistress on the side, yet still Sunny had a drug and alcohol problem, and the way the film shows the scenes it leaves it up in the air as to whether Claus gave Sunny the dose or did she overdose herself in a suicide attempt? As questions still linger at what happened at this 1980 Newport mansion.The film is also based on defense lawyer Dershowitz's book as I mentioned most of the picture on the other story side is a focus of the legal work and theory put forward by Alan and his legal team of ex law students and current students waiting to pass the bar. It's really like a legal theory classroom showcase! All in all the film is a catch with interest it still has a drama suspense feel to it as after I watched I still asked the questions did Claus do it or not? "Reversal of Fortune" is one legal theory movie to watch.

Besides the thriller aspects based on a real event, the movie shows very clearly the huge difference between this two worlds: ordinary people and very rich people, and and the relationship between them.When Ron Silver and his collaborators meets Jeremy Irons, this appears to come from another planet. He is completely disconnected from the reality in which he lives. Looking over his shoulder has become a way of life. This is what money makes to some people.When Bulow was found guilty, he appealed, hiring Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz to represent him. The process by which Dershowitz and his team attempt to investigate the legal case is very interesting.Film making is superb, as the Mark Isham's soundtrack.Some early Barbet Schroeder's movies are worth to see: Single White Female, Barfly,and La Virgen de los Sicarios.8/10

Wealthy Sunny von Bülow (Glenn Close) lies brain-dead, husband Claus (Jeremy Irons) guilty of attempted murder; but he says he is innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver) for his appeal.This film, based more or less on a true story, brings up one of those age-old legal ethics questions. Is morality and legality the same? Not at all. A person, no matter how strange or despicable, deserves the best defense. But if someone is found innocent, that does not automatically make them morally innocent. (And here we never quite know if Claus is an attempted killer or just does not care.) Jeremy Irons excels as always, and Glenn Close may have found her best role: being in a coma. She has never been good at anything else. And Ron Silver? Heck, he even made a soul-sucking loser like Dershowitz come across as a fascinating guy.

Reversal of Fortune is a less than thrilling, less than mysterious murder-mystery film. In isolation from the true story that inspired it, it holds very low impact and has not aged well in 25 years.Ron Silver is the film's strongest asset as Alan Dershowitz. He is the one who should have eaten up the accolades, not Jeremy Irons. His long philosophical rants are brilliant and gives us a very good understanding of Dershowitz as a thinker and a person in only a brief window of time. Glenn Close is also very impressive, shining in a very simple role. As for Irons, he has his moments - a smile here, a look there - that convey his talent, but for the overwhelming majority of time he isn't more than just a British gentleman. His performance in Eragon was more compelling than this. He is neither nuanced, nor malevolent, nary a shade on Primal Fear's Aaron Stampler or The Lincoln Lawyer's Louis Roulet. He is as dry as a bone, and to think that this film took the Academy Award for Best Actor which could have instead gone to James Caan for Misery or Ray Liotta for Goodfellas (neither of whom was even nominated) is just plain bizarre.The film is fairly predictable and unfolds pretty much as you'd think. It cuts away from the most exciting moments (the courtroom scenes) and even teases us with a far more exciting story (the two black brothers on death row).There's a fair bit of watchability here, which salvages an all right score, but there's a plethora of better films of this nature out there, and you should go an see them first.