Rudy Baylor (Damon) is fresh out of law school and looking for work. He wants to be the kind of lawyer that does the impossible... gives lawyers a good name. Unfortunately, those he works with don't share his fine opinion. Made up of ambulance chasers and con men, the firm he signs up with is only interested in quick cases that will settle easily in court. Teamed up with Deck Schifflet (DeVito), a fellow lawyer-wanna-be who has never passed the bar exam, Rudy is tutored in the fine art of hospital-bouncing (otherwise known as visiting the upper ward and signing up lawsuits for car accidents and the like). His two current cases are like night and day. One involves the drawing up of a will for a wealthy older woman, who coincidentally has a backside apartment she's willing to rent out in exchange for some "lawn work." The other involves a filing against an insurance company who refuses to pay for a bone marrow transplant on the grounds that it's "experimental" in the case of leukemia.

In the meantime, a number of other avenues are sucking up Rudy's time and interest. His boss, a freelancer, is under FBI investigation for criminal activity involving some of his past cases. And then there's Kelly Riker (Danes), a young woman admitted to the hospital after being battered almost to death by her abusive husband. Too terrified to file for divorce, Kelly is desperate for someone to trust. Rudy wants to protect her, but he can't help her unless she asks him to and takes legal action against Cliff.

Passing the bar exam, he is forced to step in and take over the case against the insurance company after his boss flees the FBI. With only Deck to help him sort out the finer points of law, Rudy finds himself in way over his head with the company's high-profile, highly-paid team of lawyers determined to take him out in between pats on the back. At the head of this team is Leo Drummond, notorious for his swift case systems and friendship with the local judge. But the stakes are turned on their head the judge dies of a heart attack and a new judicial is brought in. Rudy may actually have a chance of winning the case... but can he make it as far as the legal courts before the young man dies of leukemia? And what about Kelly and her situation? Cliff is on good behavior for now, but it can only last so long. Torn between two cases and a legal system seemingly wrapped up in scandal and bargaining chips, Rudy begins to question what he knows of law... and the people who stand in court. 

The Rainmaker is an excellent courtroom drama, part thriller, part comedy and almost all heart. It deals in stereotypes, but has some great messages to put across. I wouldn't encourage younger viewers for the reason that it deals with heavy topics such as wife-beating and does contain some mildly salty dialogue on occasion. It's revealed to the court that a woman working for the insurance company was forced to sleep with upper executives to get promoted. In a movie theater, we briefly see a man and woman fooling around. Language is surprisingly light; I noted only two abuses of God d--n. Kelly is shown covered in bruises on separate occasions; her husband throws things at her in the hospital.

The most cringe-worthy scene comes when she and Rudy are cleaning out her room and her husband comes home. Cliff violently attacks both of them, dismantling the house and beating around with a baseball bat. Someone is struck and blood sprays on the wall behind them. It raises the moral question of manslaughter in self-defense, and whether or not someone should get away with it. Even dealing with such heavy topics, the film also has a good sense of humor, many at lawyers' expense. And the final conclusion is that if you can't practice law ethically and in good form, you shouldn't practice it at all. Any objections are overruled.