Garner, Turner Are at Odds in TNT’s Twisted ‘Legalese’

Still haven’t seen enough lawyers? Between prime-time dramas, reruns and virtually nonstop talking heads on the news, it’s becoming hard to find a television moment that isn’t occupied--preoccupied, perhaps--with the most minute convolutions of the law. And it doesn’t show signs of abating any time soon.

Consider “Legalese,” a new TNT original film for television. The title alone makes it clear that the viewer is in for yet another romp through the legal system. But the presence of James Garner and Kathleen Turner in the cast suggests, at least, that satire, whimsy and sheer acting skill might--as they sometimes do in “Ally McBeal”--take precedence over convoluted plot twists.

Which is not to say there aren’t plenty of unexpected turns in the story, which focuses upon the case of an ambitious actress (Gina Gershon) who has killed her sister’s husband. Garner, as the celebrated attorney Norman Keane, wants to take the case for its potential publicity value, but is reluctant to risk his reputation in a possible loss. So he brings in Roy Guyton (Ed Kerr), an untried neophyte attorney, to serve as a front while he pulls the strings from behind the scene.

But the plot thickens when Guyton begins an affair with Rica Martin (Mary-Louise Parker), Keane’s assistant. It thickens even more when Brenda Whitlass (Turner), an aggressive tabloid reporter, smells a rat and begins to poke into the relationship between Keane and Guyton.

Sound complicated? It is. But the script’s tendency to telegraph many of its points at least has the benefit of making the story easier to follow. It is less successful with its efforts at satire, with some actors playing their roles broadly, while others stick close to their basic characterizations.

Garner seems to have a lot of fun playing against type, typifying all the familiar lawyer jokes by creating a fussy, over-controlling, apparently amoral character primarily concerned with his own image in the media. It works, for a while at least, because--since it is Garner--we never quite believe it, always assuming there’s a good guy beneath the tailored Armani suit.

Parker also starts well, bringing an intriguing edge to her role as Keane’s assistant. But she is eventually betrayed by a script that quickly abandons the acerbic aspects of her character. Turner, on the other hand, never gets much beyond the primary colors of her media hound, and Kerr and Gershon are similarly locked into essentially monochromatic roles.

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“Legalese” airs Sunday at 8 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight on TNT. The network has rated it TV-14-DS (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14, with advisories for suggestive dialogue and sexual situations).