You can see how the writer pitched this project: The Exorcist meets John Grisham. Keanu Reeves plays a hotshot lawyer from Florida who's lured to a New York law firm run by Al Pacino. Pacino's character name, John Milton, is an unsubtle signpost to the diabolical turn of events in a movie that sways unsteadily between a debate over good and evil and a half-successful attempt at black comedy. It's the heavy-handed dropping of clues, including supernatural visions from Reeves's ignored wife, Charlize Theron, that makes the eventual revelation a very tardy one as far as the viewer is concerned. There isn't a single scene that's remotely believable, but the whole concoction, right down to the Ghost Busters finale, is mindlessly enjoyable and directed by Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, Ray) with po-faced urgency.

Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax accepts a job at a New York law firm. With the stakes getting higher every case, Kevin quickly learns that his boss has something far more evil planned.