Movies like this require great attention, as we separate the threads of reality from the tactics of courtroom defense. One element that bothered me involved a woman who is brought forward as a last-minute witness in Johnson's defense. She claims she was with him when the wife went out the window, and she's apparently telling the truth. (As the respectable wife of a Chicago Bears lineman, she argues she'd have to be crazy to lie.) Yet from what we know, her story - a courtroom bombshell - can't be true. What's the explanation for her testimony? The movie never provides one.
What it does provide are a couple of intriguing character studies. Most movies in this genre depend on sex as a motivator, and in a more conventional version of this story, De Mornay would probably make the mistake of sleeping with her client. "Guilty as Sin" is aiming for more complex motivations. As the true extent of Johnson's twisted scheme becomes revealed, as De Mornay becomes trapped between what she sees as justice and the mistakes she's made, the movie becomes truly engrossing on a psychological level.
There are some supporting characters - Jack Warden as her trusted investigator, Stephen Lang as her busy boyfriend, jealous on cue - but essentially "Guilty as Sin" is about two people of intelligence and strong will, playing a game with very high stakes.
The plot is preposterous, the logic is sometimes faulty, but Lumet and his actors don't step wrong in the central thrust of the story.
And De Mornay's inescapable resemblance to Hillary Rodham Clinton provides a subtext which, while probably not intended, adds a certain intriguing tone to the whole enterprise.
NOTE: "Guilty as Sin" goes to great lengths to seem set in Chicago. Johnson reads the SunTimes, and characters talk of the Four Farthings pub and the Como Inn. But the movie was shot entirely in Toronto.
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