The late Joel Schumacher is indelibly linked to his two terrible Batman films, which is a perpetual shame. The designer-turned-director boasts a far superior range of films to his credit, including The Lost Boys, Falling Down, 8mm, and A Time to Kill. Somewhere in the middle of the pack sits The Client, his 1994 adaptation of the bestselling John Grisham novel.

11-year-old Mark Sway (Brad Renfro) has an encounter with a mob lawyer that sees him pursued by the authorities to help prosecute their case, and pursued by the mob to ensure his silence. In desperation he turns to disgraced lawyer Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon), whom he hires for one dollar to negotiate his way out of trouble.

The film rode the then-current wave of popularity of lawyer-turned-author John Grisham, whose glossy and sensationalistic thrillers were a mainstay of department stores and airport bookshops around the world. The Client was the third of Grisham’s books to reach movie screens, after The Firm and The Pelican Brief in 1993. It is, for the most part, a broadly entertaining drama pitting a child from a working poor background up against the American justice system, and finding solidarity with the one lawyer willing to stand up and defend his welfare. In that regard it feels quite different to the two preceding films, which both represent thrillers in a much more traditional mode. While there are scenes of tension in The Client, it is for most part concentrated on drama and character, and seems all the stronger for it.

Strong drama requires strong actors. While Schumacher comfortably relies on heavyweights like Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones – as well as a supporting cast that includes Bradley Whitford, Anthony Head, Anthony La Paglia, Mary-Louise Parker, Ossie Davis, and others – it is in the casting of Brad Renfro as Mark that he particularly excels. If Joel Schumacher had a key talent as a filmmaker superior to most of his peers, it was in finding and showcasing new talent. Renfro is superb, despite his young age, and he followed his sterling work here with decent turns in The Cure, Tom & Huck, Sleepers, Apt Pupil, and Ghost World. It is a tragedy that he died when he did: aged just 25, from a heroin overdose.

All of these elements – the direction, the story, and the cast – should have added up to an entertaining mainstream drama. Unfortunately it is clear that someone in the chain from production crew to studio heads grew gun-shy regarding the film’s chances, and forced the addition of a crass, tonally misplaced action climax. It does not sit comfortably with the rest of the film, requires characters to behave at odds with their previous behaviour, strains credulity, and spends much of the goodwill generated in the lead-up. The film as a whole reverts from decent to mediocre, and a lot of time, effort, and talent is wasted in the process.

Joel Schumacher tackled John Grisham again in 1996, in the superior (but still critically flawed) A Time to Kill. The Client is a frustrating also-ran. The quality elements are there, but they are squandered.