A high-profile criminal lawyer finds his bid for the governorship in jeopardy when an ambitious rookie journalist begins suspecting him of tampering with evidence in order to secure his many convictions. Martin Hunter (Michael Douglas) has a reputation for putting criminals behind bars, and with elections approaching he seems a shoo-in for governor. But just how clean is the district attorney's record when held up to scrutiny? When hungry reporter C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe) frames himself as a murder suspect in hopes of catching Hunter in the act, the two fierce rivals become caught up in a treacherous game of cat and mouse. But Assistant DA Ella Crystal (Amber Tamblyn) has no idea about her boyfriend C.J.'s latest assignment, and as the evidence against both men begins to pile up she begins to suspect that she's in mortal danger. As Ella discovers irrefutable truth of both C.J.'s innocence and her boss' shady dealings, the fate of two men rests in the hands of one woman whose life could be taken at any second.

In the 1956 original of this movie, a newspaper publisher conspires with his future son-in-law Tom to expose the city's questionable district attorney. The plan is to artificially plant clues to a murder that will lead to the Tom's arrest. The horror begins when the friend who is holding evidence that will clear Tom suddenly dies and Tom is now in danger of being executed.

That's pretty much what happens in this re-update as well, only that there's a few adjustments to suit modern day events and also there's quite a twist at the end that is even more bewildering than the original.

However, let's not talk about something that happened 50 years ago. In this reupdate, we have the steady Michael Douglas getting top billing ahead of a cast consisting of teen flick regulars Jesse Metcalfe (John Tucker in "John Tucker Must Die" and Amber Tamblyn (starred in the "Sisterhood And The Traveling Pants" movies), not to mention Joel Moore (the gawky guy who wanted to screw Paris Hilton in "The Hottie And The Nottie"). To be honest, the three of them can't really be faulted for the critical sting that has been inflicted on this movie by the media. If anything, the movie fails to convince any audience who are looking for something more plausible and exciting. Even Michael Douglas can't do too much to lift this movie to another level of enjoyment.

This isn't a complicated legal drama like "Fracture" and it isn't "Legally Blonde" either. It's simply a heavily-flawed movie that has a few interesting moments to its credit.