February 24, 2008 - 5pm PT/8pm ET on ABC
Michael Clayton receives seven Academy award nominations.
The film is a dramatic law thriller written and directed by Tony Gilroy and co-produced by George Clooney. It chronicles the attempts of attorney Michael Clayton, played by Clooney, to cope with a colleague's apparent mental breakdown and corruption within a major client of his law firm. It also stars Tom Wilkinson,Tilda Swinton.
George Clooney
80th Academy Awards Nominations
- Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - (George Clooney)
- Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - (Tom Wilkinson)
- Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - (Tilda Swinton)
- Achievement in Directing - (Tony Gilroy)
- Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) - (James Newton Howard)
- Best Motion Picture of the Year
- Original Screenplay - (Tony Gilroy)
The film received favorable reviews from critics. As of January 5, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 171 reviews.
Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 82 out of 100, based on 36 reviews.
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it an 'A' saying that it was "better than good, it just about restores your faith."
Roger Ebert gave it a 4-star review and Richard Roeper named it the 'best film of the year.'
It was Richard Schickel's top film of 2007, who called it “a morally alert, persuasively realistic and increasingly suspenseful melodrama, impeccably acted and handsomely staged by Tony Gilroy."
The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007 reaching number one on the following:
- 1st - Claudia Puig, USA Today
- 1st - Richard Roeper At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper
- 1st - Richard Schickel, TIME magazine
