The Rainmaker, a 10-part adaptation of John Grisham's novel, has been transformed from an average film into a below-average series. The show stars Milo Callaghan, a man whose jawline suggests mettle but whose acting suggests much woe. He drifts through the courtroom drama with the air of someone who has forgotten why he entered, certain only that it was not to deliver lines like "Ah just wanna be a lawyer."
A Fiery Law Graduate's Troubles
Callaghan plays Rudy Baylor, an ambitious South Carolina law graduate with a social conscience and a thirst for justice. Rudy wants to make a difference, but his fiery temper keeps conspiring to ruin his plans. He is even late for his first day at prestigious law firm Tinley Britt, having spent the morning throwing his mother's boyfriend around the garden.
His new boss, Leo F Drummond, played by John Slattery, promptly fires him. "I am the punishment of God," Drummond drawls, gliding around the boardroom like a shaved eagle on castors. "If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
A Soapy, Uncomplicated Affair
This is the sort of programme that equates tea-towel quotations with gravitas, and viewers must endure several more such moments as the series goes on. Unlike the 1995 novel, The Rainmaker is a startlingly uncomplicated affair. It is not the type of legal drama where characters harbour tortuous secrets or plots contort into unexpected shapes. Instead, it is a straightforwardly soapy affair, a glossy show-and-tell with linear storytelling soundtracked by incessant MOR country-rock.
After being booted out of Tinley Britt, Baylor lands at a one-horse personal injury firm operating out of an abandoned taco joint. There he finds sassy maverick Jocelyn "Bruiser" Stone, played by Lana Parrilla, who refuses to pay him a living wage. His first case is an unlawful death suit that pits him against both his former boss and his lawyer girlfriend.
Tedious and Devoid of Nuance
It is peculiar to find a series so wilfully devoid of depth, authenticity and nuance. Viewers may initially deny The Rainmaker's pounding simplicity, assuming that if they squint for long enough, interesting things will appear. But no. It is tedious. Baylor's backstory is revealed in the first few minutes, and everything from motivation to the identity of the baddies is spelled out in large type.
Will Baylor stop punching and start litigating? The answer is yawning in the wind. The Rainmaker is available on ITVX in the UK, Peacock in the US and Stan in Australia.
