Tim Daugherty’s review published on Letterboxd:
Remember when they used to churn this fast food out on an assembly line back in the 80’s and 90’s? Basic Instinct, Internal Affairs, True Confessions, Criminal Law, etc. You could play word scramble with the films titles and it wouldn’t make the slightest difference. Give it a try; Primal Instinct, Internal Confessions, Criminal Affairs…coming up with name was just picking words out of a hat. What the F’ does “Primal Fear” have to do with anything going on here? Nothing. Unless you’re instinctually afraid of lawyers (which is not unreasonable).
Frances McDormand, Ed Norton and Laura Linney are all working well above the dreadful material, and that aspect is fun to watch. Gere does what he does best - looking like a pretty boy you want to punch in the face or take to bed if that’s your thing.
This genre began to fade out later in the decade. I think Tarantino put a dagger in it with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Like 80’s hair bands and 90’s grunge music some things must die. I guess they still make these, but relegated to Netflix mini-series….which is probably where they belong.