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Perhaps the best of the 1990s films fixated on pop Christian themes (that we affectionately call "angelslop" or, if more appropriate: "devilslop"), THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE is a wildly entertaining film that despite being firmly secular, manages to hit a ton of tropes we associate with the Christian film genre. Keanu Reeves stars as Kevin Lomax, a small town defense lawyer with an impressive undefeated winning streak. He's scouted by Al Pacino as John Milton, the head of an acclaimed New York City law firm, who wants to change Lomax's life by adding him to the roster. Eagle-eared viewers may recognize the name John Milton as a reference to the author of legendary Bible fanfiction Paradise Lost. This might be your first indication that Pacino's character is the devil himself, that Reeves's character is about to make a Faustian bargain, and that the legal system is about to be used as an allegory for Christian morality. This is the most 1990s trope imaginable, an era when filmmakers were obsessed with elevating the mundane by showing it as a backdrop between the battle between angels and demons. Another distinctly 1990s decadence is needing the movie to be "smart, sexy, funny" — when THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE does rarely jump the shark into groan-inducing campiness, it's when the film attempts to flatter the viewer's sense of sophistication. However it's still a welcome nostalgic departure from mainstream movies nowadays that openly market themselves as slop from a trough for the lowest bidder. But it's the smart writing and impressive production design that makes THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE's heavy handed tropes and conservative morality feel delightfully predictable instead of tediously formulaic.

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