Michael Clayton is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney as Michael Clayton, Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens, Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder and Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach.

 

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) handles all of the dirty work for a major New York law firm, arranging top-flight legal services and skirting through loopholes for ethically questionable clients. But when a fellow"fixer" decides to turn on the very firm they were hired to clean up for, Clayton finds himself at the center of a conspiratorial maelstrom. Once an ambitious D.A., Clayton is now a shell of his former dynamic self, thanks to a divorce, an unfortunate business venture, and astronomical debt. Though he longs to leave the cutthroat, ethically dubious world of corporate law behind, Clayton's poor financial situation and devotion to firm head Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) leave him little choice but to remain on the job and tough it out. Meanwhile, litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) finds her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billion-dollar settlement overseen by Clayton's friend, star lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). When Edens snaps and decides to blow the whistle on the questionable case, sabotaging the defense, Clayton must decide between his loyalty and his conscience.

 

The film premiered August 31, 2007, at the Venice Film Festival and was shown at the American Films Festival of Deauville on September 2, 2007, and at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2007. It opened in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2007, and at the Dubai Film Festival in December 2007. The film opened in limited release in the United States on October 5, 2007, and opened in wide release in the U.S. on October 12, 2007. The film grossed USD$10.3 million on the opening week. It was re-released on January 25, 2008. The film has grossed $49 million domestically, $92.9 million worldwide.

 

The film received strong positive reviews from critics. As of November 2008, the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 184 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 also Richard Schickel's top film of 2007, and he called it "a morally alert, persuasively realistic and increasingly suspenseful melodrama, impeccably acted and handsomely staged by Tony Gilroy".

 

The film won an Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton) at the 80th Academy Awards, and was nominated for six others, including Best Picture, Best Director (Tony Gilroy), Best Actor in a Leading Role (George Clooney), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Wilkinson), Best Original Screenplay (Tony Gilroy) and Best Original Score (James Newton Howard).