''The Trials of Cate McCall'' is a 2013 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed and written by

Karen Moncrieff Karen Moncrieff (born December 20, 1963, in Sacramento, California) is an American actress, director and screenwriter. She is best known as the writer and director of critically acclaimed movies ''Blue Car'' and ''The Dead Girl'' '. Movies ...

and stars

Kate Beckinsale Kathrin Romany Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress and model. After some minor television roles, her film debut was ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993) while a student at the University of Oxford. She appeared in British costume ...

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

and

Clancy Brown Clarence John "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. Brown's film roles include Viking Lofgren in ''Bad Boys'' ...

in pivotal roles.

Plot

Cate McCall (

) is a lawyer, an

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

in recovery and on probation, and estranged from her family. In order to regain custody of her young daughter and be reinstated to the bar, she accepts the ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

'' appeal of a woman, Lacey, who has been convicted of murder. Aided by her assistant, Cate pulls out all stops to prove Lacey's innocence, as well as work on her own alcohol and work addictions. Cate becomes obsessed with the case, neglecting arranged time with her daughter while she successfully gets Lacey's conviction overturned. Cate begins drinking again after learning Lacey is guilty, which makes her mistreat her kid even more. In the middle of a trial, Cate goes back to her previous position at a prestigious law firm and purposely ruins the case for her own client. Cate then takes multiple illegal actions to put Lacey back in prison. Cate gives evidence to the prosecutor who can convict Lacey, then conspires with the prosecutor; the two of them agree to keep it a secret so that she won't be disbarred, which would deny him the ability to use the evidence that he should not have. Cate does not recuse herself from Lacey's trial – though she does blackmail the original judge, who previously ruled in Lacey's favour, to recuse himself. The prosecutor, exercising prosecutorial misconduct, does not recuse himself from the case either. Cate's overt acts of fraud, conspiracy, blackmail and misconduct enable her to get Lacey re-convicted. Cate's reward for her illegal actions is to be granted shared custody of her daughter.

Cast

as Cate McCall *

as Bridges *

as Randall Brinkerhoff * David Lyons as Josh *

Ava Kolker Ava Grace Kolker (born December 5, 2006) is an American child actress. Kolker's roles include Ava Morgenstern on the Disney Channel series ''Girl Meets World'' (2014–2017), and Olive Rozalski on ''Sydney to the Max'' (2019–2021). In film, ...

as Augie *

Mark Pellegrino Mark Ross Pellegrino (born April 9, 1965) is an American actor of film and television. He is best known for his work as Lucifer in ''Supernatural'', Paul Bennett in '' Dexter'', Jacob in ''Lost'', James Bishop in '' Being Human'', Clayton Haas ...

as Detective Robert Welch *

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include ''Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen'' ...

as Justice Jamison Sumpter *

Isaiah Washington Isaiah Washington IV is an American actor and media personality. Following a series of film appearances, he came to prominence for portraying Dr. Preston Burke in the first three seasons of the series ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2007. Wash ...

as Wilson George *

Brad Greenquist Brad Greenquist (born October 8, 1959) is an American actor. Career Greenquist appeared in ''Pet Sematary'', the 1989 film adaptation of Stephen King's 1983 novel of the same name, and in films such as '' The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer''. From the ...

as Dr. Ennis * Anna Anissimova as Lacey * Jim Klock as Bailiff Powell *

Jay Thomas Jay Thomas (born Jon Thomas Terrell; July 12, 1948 – August 24, 2017) was an American actor, comedian, and radio personality. He was heard in New York from 1976–1979 on top-40 station 99X, and later on rhythmic CHR station 92KTU, and in L ...

as Loncraine. This was Thomas's final film appearance before his death in 2017.

Production

The filming of ''The Trials of Cate McCall'' began on May 16, 2012, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Release

Distribution

The 2012 production was not released in the United States until 2014. In June 2012 Sierra/Affinity acquired the international distribution rights to the film.

Box office

''The Trials of Cate McCall'' performed poorly, showing total box office revenue, from foreign markets, of less than $250,000.

References

External links

* *
The Trials of Cate McCall
at the

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trials Of Cate Mccall, The 2013 films Films shot in Los Angeles 2010s legal drama films American legal drama films Films directed by Karen Moncrieff Films about alcoholism 2013 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films