The Devil's Advocate (marketed as Devil's Advocate) is a 1997 American mystery thriller film based on Andrew Neiderman's novel of the same name. It is directed by Taylor Hackford, and stars Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron.

The film's title is a reference to the commonly used phrase "devil's advocate", and Pacino's character is named after the author of Paradise Lost, John Milton. The movie has some minor allusions to Milton's epic, such as the famous quotation "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven".

Plot

Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves), a defense attorney from Gainesville, Florida, has never lost a case. He defends a schoolteacher, Lloyd Gettys (Chris Bauer), against a charge of child molestation. Kevin believes his client is guilty, and a reporter tells him a guilty verdict is inevitable. However, through a harsh cross-examination, Kevin destroys the victim's credibility, securing a not guilty verdict.

A representative of New York City law firm Milton, Chadwick & Waters offers Kevin a large sum of money to help with a jury selection. After the jury delivers a not guilty verdict, the head of the firm, John Milton (Al Pacino), offers Kevin a large salary and an upscale apartment if he joins the firm. Kevin accepts the job, along with his wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) to stay in Manhattan. He is soon spending all his time at work, leaving Mary Ann feeling isolated. Kevin's mother, Alice (Judith Ivey), visits New York and suggests they both return home. He refuses.

Devil's advocate is someone who takes a position they do not necessarily agree with for the sake of debate or to explore the thought further.

Devil's Advocate may also refer to:

Books

The Devil's Advocate, originally released as Des Teufels Advokat, is a 1977 West German English-language film, directed by Guy Green (his final theatrical film) and based on the novel of the same name by the Australian writer Morris West.

It stars John Mills, Paola Pitagora, Stéphane Audran, Leigh Lawson, Jason Miller and Daniel Massey. The film is set in Italy but was filmed predominantly in West Germany.

Plot

In 1958, the Catholic Church is investigating the case of a mysterious individual, Giacomo Nerone (Leigh Lawson), who is said to have performed miracles in a remote village in southern Italy (Scontrone), before being executed by Italian Communist partisans in 1944. The process involves a "Devil's advocate", who is tasked with discovering any details about the subject's life that would indicate their canonisation would be inappropriate.

Monsignor Blaise Meredith (John Mills) is given this responsibility, shortly after he learns he has terminal cancer. Meredith discovers that Nerone was actually a British soldier named James Black, who had become detached from the British Army during WW2 and was hiding in this village, where he began a relationship with a local woman.

The Devil's Advocate is a 1959 novel by Australian author Morris West. It forms part of West's "Vatican" sequence of novels, along with The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963), The Clowns of God (1981), and Lazarus (1990).

Plot

Father Blaise Meredith, a dying English priest, is sent from the Vatican to a small village in Calabria to investigate the life of Giacomo Nerone, a local being touted for sainthood. Meredith was chosen for the task because Cardinal Marotta wanted someone learned and meticulous; someone who might be lacking in charity, but not in precision’. The residents of the nearby village of Gemello Maggiore are promoting Nerone's cult because it will bring prestige to the area.

Meredith discovers that Nerone was in fact a deserter from the British army, who had an illegitimate son by a local woman, and was executed by Communist partisans towards the end of World War II, yet is a man revered in his small village.

Development

Fluent in both French and Italian, West visited southern Italy in the 1950s, where he wrote the 1957 non-fiction Children of the Sun, which described the lives of street urchins in Naples. As a result, he was offered a job as Vatican correspondent for the London Daily Mail.