The Rainmaker (1997) review

Fresh out of law school and in need of a job, Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) accepts a position working for shyster "Bruiser" Stone (Mickey Rourke), who's being watched by the Feds for a variety of corrupt activities, eventually splits off to start his own firm with paralegal Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito) and then finds himself trying to save wounded bird Kelly (Claire Danes) from an abusive marriage while engaged in a massive lawsuit against insurance company Great Benefit and its expensive legal team, led by Leo Drummond (Jon Voight).  The movie, which was adapted from John Grisham's book by Coppola (with narration written by journalist Michael Herr), tries to maintain a reasonable disdain for the profession (which is understandable considering how many disreputable individuals are involved in it) and yet it has all the expected trappings of the genre: pure-hearted Baylor believes he can right the wrongs, and the second half of it is literally a David vs. Goliath courtroom "battle," which involves hysterics and surprise witnesses.  Still, the cast lends it a bit of credibility: Damon does fine work in one of his early leading roles, and many of the supporting actors and actresses are solid, especially Mary Kay Place as the mother of a young man with leukemia, an uncredited Danny Glover as the judge and DeVito as Rudy's well-connected (and shifty) "fixer."