Reasonable Doubt

Novelist-attorney Friedman ( Rage ) ably maps the baroque twists and turns of the legal system in this unlikely but entertaining hybrid of Rocky and Presumed Innocent . Hard-drinking former U.S. prosecutor Michael Ryan reluctantly agrees to defend his daughter-in-law, who is accused of battering to death his philandering son Ned after a high-pitched argument at a SoHo art gallery. Between skirmishes with his younger, hot-headed, female co-counsel, Ryan learns more than he wants to know about Ned's slimy business deals and all-too-open marriage. A minefield of damaging, suppressed facts explodes in the gritty courtroom scenes as Ryan slugs away at a headline-hungry district attorney in an attempt to settle old scores. The finale, however, is flat and disappointing. (Mar.)