Stylish and effective, if slightly overlong, thriller.

Has some faults, but it manages to keep its audience either angry or jumpy from start to finish.

Comes across as gratifying, not grating: the same way the familiarity of a well-crafted whodunit is part of the book's pleasures.

This is the second movie Judd and Freeman have made together (after "Kiss the Girls" in 1997). They're both good at projecting a kind of Southern intelligence that knows its way around the frailties of human nature.

Satisfies a hunger for the basics: a decent mystery to chew on, a bit of juicy suspense, maybe a plot twist as garnish. The fare is all on the standard menu, but it goes down well just the same.

Franklin injects life into a flat format and has in the process done something nearly unheard of in Hollywood as of late: He's brought class back to the genre film.

Even if it lacks the finesse of Franklin's earlier work, High Crimes moves like a bullet.

It's still a disappointment: a well-mounted and well-acted suspense movie that, thanks to its illogical script, falls off a cliff midway through.

The problem with High Crimes, acceptable though it is, is that it's not close to anyone's best work.

Franklin directs smoothly, but except for Freeman, the theatrics are pretty pro forma.

Ms. Judd commands the screen with consistent authority, and Mr. Freeman brings expansive humor to the role of a self-styled wildcard who's still dangerous in court.

The biggest offense in the somewhat unimaginative but serviceable legal thriller High Crimes is that the venerable Morgan Freeman simply does not get enough screen time, and when he's up there, he doesn't have enough to do.

For his part. Mr. Freeman shows himself, once again, incapable of giving a bad performance.

This is very much a ''woman's picture,'' driven by a twin rudder of anxiety and empowerment.