Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino’s classic 1990s Exorcist-meets-John Grisham horror movie is blowing up on a free streaming service. Two years before The Matrix, Reeves played a hot-shot attorney questioning his reality in the Paradise Lost-like morality tale.
Fans can currently check out The Devil’s Advocate for free right now on Tubi, where it has surged into the streaming service’s Top 10 Most Popular Movies as of Tuesday, August 19, according to FlixPatrol. The Devil’s Advocate ranks as the #8 most popular film on the ad-supporting streamer, ahead of Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone’s 1999 comedy Blast from the Past (#9) and the Steven Seagal-starring 1990 action-adventure classic Marked for Death (#10). The top three films on Tubi, as of Tuesday, are David Duchovny’s 2001 creature feature Evolution (#1), Sony’s animated hit Hotel Transylvania 2 and the 1987 buddy-cop classic Lethal Weapon (#3).
The Devil’s Advocate was adapted for the big screen by director Taylor Hackford (Dolores Claiborne) and screenwriters Jonathan Lemkin (Superman Lives) and Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) from Andrew Neiderman’s 1990 novel of the same name, which itself borrowed from John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno. The rare combination of legal thriller and supernatural horror also blends elements of the mythical Faustian bargain, as Reeves’s hot-shot lawyer Kevin Lomax discovers that his boss, John Milton (Al Pacino), is keeping a devilish secret.
«With the stakes getting higher with each case, Kevin quickly learns that his mentor is planning a far greater evil than simply winning without scruples.»
An official synopsis for The Devil’s Advocate teases: «Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) accepts a high-powered position at a New York law firm headed by legal shark John Milton (Al Pacino). As Kevin moves up in the firm’s ranks, his wife, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron), has several frightening, mystical experiences that begin to warp her sense of reality. With the stakes getting higher with each case, Kevin quickly learns that his mentor is planning a far greater evil than simply winning without scruples.»
The Devil's Advocate Has Gone Viral Before
Warner Bros
The Devil’s Advocate divided critics and audiences at the time of its 1997 release, with the film holding a 63% critical score but an 80% audience score via Rotten Tomatoes. One notable defender of the movie was prominent film critic Roger Ebert, who credited The Devil’s Advocate for its «splendid moments» despite shortcomings with its plot. Ebert delightfully described Pacino delivering a performance as John Milton with «relish bordering on glee,» in addition to praising the «phantasmagorical final confrontation» between Reeves and his Oscar-winning co-star.
The movie’s latest streaming success is not actually the first time it suddenly went viral. The Devil’s Advocate trended on Netflix in May 2022 and frequently popped up on the streamer’s list of Most Popular Movies despite being released more than two decades earlier. While the CGI may be dated and the wardrobe choices for Reeves, Pacino and Charlize Theron are very much in keeping with late ’90s fashion, the morality tale at the center of The Devil’s Advocate‘s legal horror remains remarkably prescient. Kevin Lomax faces the dilemma of selling his soul for success, and soon discovers that whichever choice he makes, he’s going to have to serve somebody…
The Devil’s Advocate is available to stream for free via Tubi, or it can be rented or purchased digitally from iTunes, Google Play and Amazon’s Prime Video.
