Domestic Disturbance (2001)

Directer: Harold Becker

Frank (John Travolta) is divorced, and yet keeps a good relationship with his ex-wife. They even share responsibilities with the son (for whom she has custody). But she’s getting ready to marry Rick (Vince Vaughn). Rick seems like a nice guy, but when he kills a guy in front of Danny (the son of course) it causes a domestic disturbance (and a film devoid of any originality).

Disturbed law:

1. Danny ditches school and is picked up by the police. He’s done it before and demanded a lawyer. Way to know your rights Danny.

2. When Ray, one of Ricks old criminal buddies, comes to town, Rick tells him that scumbags are what he “came to hate most about working outside the law.”

3. After Danny sees the murder there is a police interrogation in which no one believes Danny. Finally, Frank believes him and sues for custody in order to get him away from Rick. He even kidnaps Danny in “custody play.” His lawyer says that he has no choice but to fight for custody and his girlfriend tells him that “mom’s always win these things.”

4. There is a custody hearing that Frank loses because Danny (under duress) retracts his accusations. There won’t be any perjury though because he was too young to swear in according to the judge.

5. Not really a legal thing, but man it was great seeing Vince Vaughn electrocuted by a well placed crow bar.

IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes

Bachelor Party (1984)

Director: Neal Israel

What a classic. Rick Gassko (Tom Hanks), a catholic school bus driver, is ready to marry his upper crust girlfriend, thus his friends throw him a raging bachelor party. Her father disagrees with the whole marriage and is set to destroy the couple’s happy existence by throwing in the stereotypical blonde 1980’s exboyfriend to woo her back. Luckily, though, this movie goes easy on the love and heavy on the party, and we even get to see a donkey overdose.

It also goes light on the law.

1. The police shut the party down due to a noise complaint. This sends everyone on a wild chase through the city.

2. The movie ends with a wedding ceremony in which a “lawful wife” is declared by the officiant, who has “powers vested” in him by the state.

IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Director: John Madden

I’ll give it flick this: it is clever. That said it is still a chick flick with all of those miserable moments associated. I think, though, that it should hold something of interest for Shakespeare people (and maybe even a few David Webster fans as well). The story follows Billy (Joseph Fiennes) as he works on his production of Romeo and Juliet. During this production Viola de Lesseps (a young noble woman, played by Gwyneth Paltrow) auditions for the part of Juliet while pretending to be a boy. In the mean time Shakespeare falls in love with the Viola the lady and all the mayhem that one could expect ensues.

This movie is riddled with references to Shakespeares entire canon and it can be rather enjoyable trying to pick all the references out. Unfortunately, the plot is fairly hackneyed and cliched when you get down to its bare bones. But look out for Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth; oh, she is monstrous.

Law in love:

1. It is illegal for women to be in theatrical productions, thus leading Viola to declare, “Stage love will never be true love as long as the law of the land has” boys playing girls.

2. Theaters are closed and reopened by the Master of the Revels. If ever there was a great political position, this is it. If the office comes open, I’m running.

3. The Queen’s consent is required for Lord Wessex to take a wife. This displays the nonseparation of church and state during this time period (a legacy which still hangs on today in the realm of family law). Later, the Queen states that those joined together by God “even I can’t render assunder.”

4. When it is discovered that there is a girl in the play, the theater is closed. The Master of the Revels cites Sedition, Indecency, and Lewdness.

5. A license to have a company of actors must be obtained from the Queen.

6. When the Queen takes the stage she states that they’ll “all be put in the clink.” Interestingly enough the rebuilt Globe in London is just around the corner from Clink Street Prison.

IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes

The Odd Couple (1968)

Director: Gene Saks

The film adaptation of Neil Simon’s play by the same name, The Odd Couple is a window into the lives of two divorced friends who move in together. During the their time under one roof Oscar (Walter Mathau) and Felix (Jack Lemmon) realize that while they love each other like brothers they hate each other like spouses. Full of great acting and funny bits the adventures of Oscar and Felix is certainly worth seeing.

Obsessive compulsive law:

1. Felix was once locked in a bathroom and wrote out his will on a roll of toilet paper. Probably not enforceable.

2. Oscar is behind on child support and his ex-wife threatens him with jail.

3. A cop plays in the weekly poker game. He says that he “can’t arrest the whole game.”

4. Felix’s wife is going to use his cousin as her lawyer in the divorce proceedings.

5. The Pigeon sister’s claim that divorce is tough with out the proper solicitors. One of them had her husband die “before the final papers went through,” so she isn’t technically divorced.

6. When it is suspected that Felix might be attempting suicide again they look for him in a police car. The Cop who is off duty and shouldn’t be driving around with all his buddies in the car tells some other officers that it is an “off duty arrest … caught them gambling.”

IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes

American Beauty (1999)

Directed by Sam Mendes

American Beauty follows the final year in the life of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburbanite man in a shoddy marriage with a crappy job. One day he decides that he is going to change, so he quits his job and starts buying pot from the neighbor boy. That’s sort of the jam and biscuits summary of the film, but if you really want to get down to it this movie is all about Plato’s theory of ideas and how that theory works when interplayed with the excesses of America. I think that if you are cued into this reading of the film it morphs from a good movie to a really good movie.

But what about the law. There are just a few snippets:

1. There is mention of a property dispute in which Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening) cuts down the neighbor’s tree. She justifies this by saying that a “substantial portion of the root structure” was on her property.

2. When Carolyn threatens to divorce Lester, he tells her that since he supported her while she got her real estate license that he would be entitled to half of everything. Rawk on Lester.

3. When Lester is on the verge of getting fired he demands a nice severance package. He supports his right to this by A) threatening to turn in information about his boss buying prostitutes with a company credit card to the IRS (since the way it was reported it would constitute fraud) and B) threatening a fake sexual harassment lawsuit against the man who is firing him. He does this on purely evidentiary grounds: “Can you prove that you didn’t?”

4. Finally, the order obsessed ex-marine father of the dope dealer says, “There are rules in life . . . you need structure, you need discipline.” Of course he just beat the crap out of his son.

IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes