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Legal Eagles

PG Released Jun 20, 1986 1h 54m Comedy Drama List
41% Tomatometer 17 Reviews 32% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah) is arrested for stealing artwork painted by her deceased father, and sympathetic attorney Laura Kelly (Debra Winger) sets out to defend the young woman against slick prosecutor Tom Logan (Robert Redford). After a series of romantic exchanges, Tom ends up falling in love with Laura and teaming up with her to help clear Chelsea of the charges. However, as they lawyers dig deeper into the case, things take a shocking turn, and Tom finds his career in jeopardy.
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Legal Eagles

Critics Reviews

View All (17) Critics Reviews
Nell Minow Movie Mom Rated: 2/5 Jul 25, 2002 Full Review Neil Smith BBC.com Rated: 2/5 Apr 17, 2001 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times The movie has so much stuff in it, it's top-heavy. The wonder is that so many scenes play as well as they do. Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Dan Webster Spokesman-Review (Washington) Redford is good, but even his innate style can't overcome the so-so effort Reitman has thrown up on the screen. Rated: 2/4 Jul 27, 2024 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy The sort of project that gives off vibes of being a carefully packaged studio deal. Rated: 2/4 Feb 22, 2020 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Legal Eagles primarily comes off as a lazy and fairly pointless vanity project that squanders the talents of everyone involved. Rated: 2/4 May 2, 2012 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (96) audience reviews
Blu B It's so harmless, fluffy, and mindless it's hard to get angry about anything with this. It's trying to me a mixture of a RomCom, comedy, courtroom drama, and murder mystery and it's all over the place. The music isn't bad and sounds 80% like the Ghostbusters soundtrack which kind of makes me wonder why I'm not watching that throughout. Everything else is just alright. This starts out on solid ground but when it tries doing outright comedic humor it's cringe worthy and bizarre like when she shows him her art collection and the fire stuff. Thank god most of the comedy after that just falls flat rather than crashes and burns like that does. An occasional little chuckle but hardly any works. Because this wastes time on dumb comedy a lot, it means the actual serious murder/painting mystery doesn't get the devlopment it needs and feels a bit rushed. The actual plot twist I guess is alright but it's hard to have seen it coming with all the dumb humor in the way. The story itself has a lot of crazy moments in it that I guess also are meant to be comedic as well. It's that it doesn't follow a linear event, but it's just crazy scenes followed by flat humor, back to standard mystery/curtroom stuff. The love triangle is alright too I guess. Winger & Redford (who isn't bad here and the best thing in this) have decent chemistry. But there's just so much going on here. This really needed to cut the comedy bits out and tone down the over the top moments and just focus on the Romance and making the mystery more beliveable. The direction isn't bad here also, but again it just gets weighed down by so much going on and hit or miss results. It's not really bloated but just very hit or miss. It does help it's very lighthearted so it makes it easier to swallow all the misfires. Skip this though. There are so many better RomComs, Court Room dramas, comedies, and films these actors and the director have been in, there is no reason to give this a try. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/28/24 Full Review Joseph L The best part of this movie is the eating montage. My buddy Steve Gutierrez started phony laughing during the montage; soon the whole theater was rollicking. A true waste of time. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/16/23 Full Review Jelisije J A nice light hearted courtroom drama that shines through its mediocre plot with the two leads carrying this film with their insane chemistry. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/29/23 Full Review PAUL S When this movie came out I was in my late twenties and I'm sure I saw it. So why is it now 35 years later I can't remember a single thing about this film? Because it's not very good. I wanted to like it, a lot, because I like all the people in it. Daryl Hannah deserved a razzie although she was a little bit handicapped by the character she played. There was one good scene in the courtroom that was pretty much it. Winger and Redford had chemistry but that's almost an afterthought in this film. It's billed as a romantic comedy but there's more drama by far than the rom-com aspect. If you watch don't say I didn't warn you! And this is from me, a guy who pretty much enjoys most films so that's saying a lot. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 06/13/23 Full Review Steve D A lot of talent, a dumb script and a ridiculous unconvincing twist. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/05/23 Full Review Thursday M Great movie, very light and entertaining. Redford was sexy and Debra Winger was still acting. Daryl Hannah is perfect as the statuesque artist. Great views of 1986 New York. Saw it 37 years ago. Nostalgia. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Legal Eagles

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Cast & Crew

On Golden Pond 91% 87% On Golden Pond More American Graffiti 20% 33% More American Graffiti The Sugarland Express 87% 66% The Sugarland Express The Sting 93% 95% The Sting Minnie and Moskowitz 82% 85% Minnie and Moskowitz Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah) is arrested for stealing artwork painted by her deceased father, and sympathetic attorney Laura Kelly (Debra Winger) sets out to defend the young woman against slick prosecutor Tom Logan (Robert Redford). After a series of romantic exchanges, Tom ends up falling in love with Laura and teaming up with her to help clear Chelsea of the charges. However, as they lawyers dig deeper into the case, things take a shocking turn, and Tom finds his career in jeopardy.
Director
Ivan Reitman
Producer
Ivan Reitman
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Universal Pictures
Rating
PG
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 20, 1986, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$47.2M
Runtime
1h 54m
Sound Mix
Surround
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