Too safe — not Safe (1995) enough. Made with some obvious craftsmanship, but it's really hamstrung by a clumsy script that explains far too much to the viewer, rendering all of the crucial moments in a genre film such as this (the initial approach, the revelation of the cover-up, the trial, the cynical compromise, etc.) almost completely compromised. It felt like if Michael Mann's The Insider (1999) was remade by a 4000-word New Yorker piece, which it pretty much is.
An appalling story of corporate abuse and negligence on the level of Big Tobacco, Oxycontin, etc., so why does it feel so enervated? I guess one reason is because it looked like the film stock itself had been dipped into PFOAs. Anyway, it's curious how anachronistic this movie feels, even though only 6 years has passed. (And vaccine paranoia, Trump's re-election, etc...)
Anne Hathaway [can] only do so much in the role of Bilott’s wife, Sarah, who seems to exist only to criticize others[.] Given Sarah’s intriguing backstory (she gave up a career in law to become a housewife), as well as Haynes’s predilection for exploring complex women, her characterization feels especially thin.
— Michael Joshua Rowin (Slant Magazine)
Synopsis: A tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world's largest corporations. In the process, he risks everything — his future, his family, and his own life — to expose the truth.